Somalia’s opposition Future Council divided over president’s invitation to November election talks


Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud seated at a desk in front of flags and bookshelves, under the presidency seal

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in an image the presidency released with highlights of his address to the nation, October 25, 2026. Photo: Villa Somalia

Somalia's main opposition alliance, the Somali Future Council, has not decided whether to join President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's election talks in Mogadishu on November 14 to 18, after a divided meeting on Monday night.

Council members met at the home of former President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed to weigh the benefits and risks of accepting, FTL Somalia and Warkasta reported on Wednesday. Some members appeared inclined to accept, but no decision was reached. The members agreed in principle to give one joint answer rather than reply one by one, Warkasta reported.

At another meeting in Mogadishu on Wednesday, the council agreed to seek the views of Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni and Jubaland President Ahmed Mohamed Islam, known as Ahmed Madobe, before making a final decision, and to set up a permanent working committee, Caasimada Online and Somali Dispatch reported. The news site Baidoa Online wrote on X that the council was preparing to reject the invitation. The council had not announced a formal answer by late Wednesday.

The presidency sent the invitations on Monday to four groups: the Nabad iyo Nolol (Peace and Life) party, the Somali Future Council, the National Unity Forum and a civil society coalition, according to a statement carried by the state news agency SONNA. The National Consultative Forum is meant to discuss federal election matters "based on consensus and mutual understanding," the statement said. The Somali Future Council includes the leaders of Puntland and Jubaland, the two federal member states that have broken with Mogadishu.

The first answers from the council's ranks were sharp. Its secretary, the lawmaker Abdullahi Abukar Haji, known as Arab, said the president's term had ended and that he had no standing to invite anyone. "For him to invite anyone, he must first have the legitimacy to do so," he wrote, according to Caasimada Online, as carried by Warkasta, and Somali Dispatch. The lawmaker Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame said the president "is still confusing consultation with negotiation," and called for real negotiation in which every side is ready to make concessions.

On Wednesday, Arab also distanced the council from Abdullahi Mohamed Sanbaloolshe, the former director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency, who has warned in recent interviews of armed resistance in Hiiraan. Sanbaloolshe is not a member of the Somali Future Council, Arab said, according to Dawan Africa and its Somali service Dawan TV. "We are not forming an armed rebellion. We are seeking power peacefully," SMS Somali TV quoted him as saying. The Arabic news account @BawabaAfrica carried the same denial.

The civil society group Somali Non-State Actors, known as SONSA, welcomed the invitation, FTL Somalia reported.

The president made the offer in a televised address on Sunday. "I take this opportunity to extend a formal invitation," he said, according to Dawan Africa. "When I say there is no shared decision-making, it does not mean I reject consultation," he added in Somali, in a clip shared by @OAbraar. In the same speech he defended the one-person, one-vote elections held this year in South West, Galmudug and Hirshabelle states and in the Banadir region, Kaab TV reported.

The dispute is over who runs the next vote and when. On October 15 the National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission set elections for both houses of parliament for April 15, 2027, and a presidential vote for May 15, 2027, Dawan Africa reported. The opposition rejects that timetable and argues that the president's mandate has already run out. The council has said before that any dialogue must start with a halt to all election activity and an independent mediator, FTL Somalia reported, citing Hiiraan Online. The Government has not accepted those conditions.

Some observers asked how the talks fit the calendar. "A dated invitation is progress," the Somalia analysis account @SpotSomali wrote, but it asked whether voter registration, which it said runs from November 1 to 22, would pause for the talks. Mereja could not confirm the registration dates with the electoral commission.

Deni had already rejected the federal plan. Speaking on Sunday to the 59th session of Puntland's House of Representatives, he called it unacceptable and a threat to the Somali state, Dawan Africa reported. According to Tuuryare Africa, Deni said the president had launched drone attacks against opposition figures in Mogadishu, an accusation the federal Government has not answered publicly.

The state elections themselves remain disputed. In Hirshabelle, state lawmakers in Jowhar re-elected Ali Abdullahi Hussein Gudlawe of the president's Justice and Solidarity Party on Saturday with 81 votes, against 13 for Nur Ilmi Halane of the Ramaas party, Dawan Africa reported. Ninety-eight of the 99 members voted and four ballots were spoiled, the speaker said. In the Hiiraan region of the same state, some accounts on X say opposition is hardening. The Arabic account @A1bdallah wrote that Hiiraan was preparing to confront the state administration in Jowhar. Mereja could not confirm that claim.

Critics of the Government online were not won over by the invitation. The outlet Somali Report called it "soft words as he clings to power." Mohamud Uluso, writing as @MohamudUluso, called Sunday's speech one of "political deception and mockery."

Somalia's crisis matters well beyond Mogadishu. Ethiopia has thousands of troops in Somalia, and the fight against al-Shabaab depends on cooperation between the federal Government and the states.

Sources

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *