Osman Barre, a former speaker of the Hirshabelle parliament, speaks in a video posted on October 30, 2026, in which he says the forces “have captured Beledweyne.” Photo: HMC Somali TV (@HMCsomaliTV) via X [file photo]
Macawisley clan fighters took over the Hiiraan regional administration offices in Beledweyne on Friday as federal soldiers stepped aside without firing, in a dispute over the Hirshabelle state leadership, Somali media reported.
The fighters, from the Hawadle clan and led by local politicians and businessmen, drove armed vehicles into the Lamagalaay compound in the center of the city, Hiiraan Online reported. They set up positions inside the regional administration headquarters, took the approach to the Liqliqato bridge over the Shabelle river and deployed outside Ugaas Khalif airport and in other parts of the town, the site said. Somali National Army soldiers guarding the front of the compound made way for them without a shot being fired, according to Hiiraan Online and Hornlife.
Mumin Mohamed Halane, a former district commissioner of Mahas, told Hiiraan Online that the fighters were not seeking a fight with the army. “We are not attacking the military. We have a common enemy,” he said. “I call on Somali National Army and intelligence officers not to provoke us. We will not provoke them, but if they do, we will defend ourselves.” Hiiraan Online said on Saturday that the city was calm.
FTL Somalia reported on Saturday that Abdullahi Sanbalolshe, a former head of the national intelligence agency, had entered Beledweyne with the fighters. It said social media claims that the airport had been captured and that the Hirshabelle appointed governor had fled the city could not be independently verified.
The Lamagalaay compound has two parts. The administration side is held by Mohamed Hussein Mohamed, the Hiiraan governor whom the Hirshabelle government says it has removed but who refuses to leave. The other part is an army base, where Hirshabelle’s newly appointed governor, Muuse Salaad Weheliye, is staying. Hiiraan Online said the move followed reports that Hirshabelle’s vice president, Abdifatah Hassan Afrah, would arrive in Beledweyne on Friday with a delegation.
The dispute goes back to the recent election of Ali Gudlawe as Hirshabelle’s leader, which was backed by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s government and rejected by many in the Hawadle community, who say the region’s power sharing is unfair. Somali journalist Harun Maruf (@HarunMaruf) wrote on X that armed clan militias had taken over “at least two key installations” in the town “in yet another setback for the federal government,” and that observers fear violent resistance could lead to “a resurgence of warlordism.” He noted that Mogadishu is also dealing with the fallout from the removal of the former leader of South West State.
Osman Barre, a former speaker of the Hirshabelle parliament, told SMS Somali TV that the fighters “are fighters for a just cause who have been undergoing training on the outskirts of the city for some time.” He added: “Hirshabelle has no troops present in Beledweyne; anyone claiming to represent Hirshabelle cannot remain here.” In a separate video posted by HMC Somali TV, he said, “We have captured Beledweyne and will not retreat.”
Radio Daljir reported that the offices had been handed over with orders to work with a new administration opposed to the Hirshabelle government. It said Sanbalolshe had recently said a separate administration would be formed in Beledweyne.
The Macawisley militia has fought alongside the federal army against al Shabaab in Hiiraan for several years. Some Somali users on X worried that the clash would help the militant group. One account, @Islaweyne, wrote that the fighters had pulled back from the fight against al Shabaab in order to take over the regional government headquarters. Ahmed Shire (@HonAhmedShire), an economic adviser at IGAD, wrote that the crises in Bay, Bakool and Hiiraan “demonstrate how unresolved political differences can escalate into violence.”
Somali MP Abdimalik Abdalla answered President Hassan Sheikh’s recent remark to Sky News that “if Mogadishu isn’t safe, London isn’t safe,” saying, “If Baladweyne and Baidoa are not safe, then Mogadishu is not safe either,” the Somali Guardian reported on X.
The seizure comes as the UN political mission in Somalia closes on October 31 and Uganda has begun withdrawing its troops from the African Union mission. The federal government and the Hirshabelle administration had not publicly commented on the events in Beledweyne by Friday evening, Somali outlets said.