Somalia court voids president's term extension as troops mass

Mogadishu — Residents of Mogadishu voiced sharply divided views on Friday after Somalia's Supreme Court ruled that an extension of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's term in office was "unlawful", plunging the country deeper into political crisis. The opposition accuses the president of sending troops to arrest the court's chief justice, while the court itself says the president has no power to dismiss him.

The court ruled on Thursday that constitutional amendments passed by parliament — which Mohamud says allowed him to stay on after his term ended in May — should never have applied to his current term. It called for a new agreement between political parties within 30 days and for elections to be held within 90 days, according to Africanews.

Even before the ruling was published, the president's office announced on Facebook that it was dismissing Chief Justice Bashe Yusuf Ahmed, citing what it called concerns about the need for an efficient and fair judiciary. The court replied that the president had no authority to fire the judge and accused him of trying "to obstruct the administration of justice in the constitutional case filed before the Supreme Court".

Former prime minister Hassan Ali Khaire told reporters the president had "launched an assault on the Supreme Court and deployed troops to its premises" on Thursday. "The chief justice and lawyers are being pursued in their homes for arrest, have been subjected to torture, and the court's operations have been halted," he added. AFP could not verify those claims, though images published by Somali media claimed to show military forces in the court's compound. Khaire said "the dismantling of our judiciary is a direct threat to the rule of law" and called on Somalis to defend constitutionalism.

On the streets of the capital, opinions split. Abdullahi Hassan Sheikh said the court was right and that governments everywhere must respect court decisions. Mohamed Farah Ahmed took the opposite view, arguing the court was operating when the new constitution was approved and should have acted then.

The stand-off compounds an already severe security crisis. Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda-linked insurgency that controls swathes of the country, continues to fight the government while international donors cut funding to an African Union military mission that has run for almost 20 years. Uganda, the biggest troop contributor, said this week it would withdraw all its forces by the end of 2027, and Washington has cut all donations to a critical UN logistics mission. Violence already flared in Mogadishu in June over the constitutional dispute, which opposition parties boycotted in March, some saying they were barred from attending the vote.

Somalis are now waiting to see whether Mohamud accepts the 30-day deadline for a political agreement — and whether the country can reach the nationwide democratic elections he had promised for April and May 2027.