By Abdiqani Hassan and Abdi Sheikh
MOGADISHU/GAROWE, Somalia (Reuters) -Clashes erupted on Wednesday between forces from Somalia’s federal government and the semi-autonomous Jubbaland region, raising concerns that internal rivalries are diverting attention from the fight against the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group.
The violence in the strategically important region, which follows an election held there despite being opposed by authorities in Mogadishu, is taking place just weeks before the mandate of an African Union peacekeeping force expires.
“This morning, federal forces from Mogadishu in Ras Kamboni, using drones, attacked Jubbaland forces,” Adan Ahmed Haji, assistant security minister of Jubbaland, told a press conference in the regional capital Kismayu.
Later in the day he said hundreds of federal forces had surrendered and fled to the Kenyan border, while Jubbaland fighters had captured Ras Kamboni. Reuters could not immediately verify his claims.
Somali Defence Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur said the Jubbaland forces initiated the clashes.
“Early this morning Jubbaland forces attacked the Somali federal military troops that were deployed in Lower Jubba to take bases withdrawn from by ATMIS,” he said in a statement, referring to the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia.
Major Abdirahman Osman, a Jubbaland soldier, told Reuters 10 people had been killed in the fighting.
The region’s shoreline delineates a contested maritime zone with Kenya, with potential oil and gas deposits. Jubbaland is also a significant grain supplier for the country, and Kismayu an important port.
In late November Jubbaland, which borders Kenya and Ethiopia and is one of Somalia’s five semi-autonomous states, re-elected regional president Ahmed Mohamed Islam Madobe for a third term.
The national government in Mogadishu, led by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, opposed the election, saying it was held without federal involvement.
As the election dispute escalated, the federal government issued an arrest warrant for Madobe, while Jubbaland issued a reciprocal one for President Mohamud.
Major Aden Nur, a federal army officer in Mogadishu, said Wednesday’s fighting was in an area 20 km (12 miles) from Ras Kamboni, a town where federal troops have increased their numbers since the election.
In the wider fight against al Shabaab, the African Union’s peacekeeping mandate expires in less than three weeks and no agreement has been reached on which countries will contribute to the follow-on peacekeeping mission or how it will be financed.
“The principles of the Somali government and constitution clearly state that the armed forces should not be used for politics,” three leading opposition officials said in a joint statement.
“The federal forces deployed in Ras Kamboni and the Jubbaland forces who are fighting them were supposed to jointly fight al Shabab and other enemies of Somalia.”
In 2021, Kenya rejected a U.N. court ruling that decided mostly in favour of Somalia in the row but said it would pursue a diplomatic solution.
(Reporting by Abdiqani Hasssan in Garowe and Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu and Aaron Ross in Nairobi; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Hereward Holland, Ammu Kannampilly, Angus MacSwan, Philippa Fletcher)
