Sunatimes is withholding the identities of the sources because they were not authorised to discuss the president’s private medical condition publicly.
The precise diagnosis, severity of the illness and treatment being provided could not be independently established.
Villa Somalia has not publicly disclosed that President Mohamud is receiving treatment in Switzerland.
Conflicting Accounts Over Cause of Illness
Several explanations are circulating privately within Somali political and security circles about what may have caused the president’s reported condition.
Some sources have raised suspicions of possible poisoning, while others believe medication previously taken by the president may have affected his kidneys.
Sunatimes has obtained no medical records, laboratory findings or other clinical evidence establishing either explanation. There is therefore no basis at present to conclude that the president was poisoned or that medication damaged his kidneys.
The competing theories illustrate the secrecy surrounding his reported illness rather than establishing its cause.
Sunatimes has also been told of earlier health concerns involving the president. However, without medical documentation or an official disclosure, the news agency is not presenting those reports as a diagnosis.
Last Confirmed Public Appearance in Serbia
What can independently be established is the president’s recent travel.
Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Hassan Sheikh arrived in Belgrade to lead Somalia’s delegation at a high-level meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement held on September 1 and 2.
Serbia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently confirmed that Foreign Minister Marko Đurić personally saw the Somali president off at Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport on September 2, after his official engagements concluded.
The Serbian statement did not identify his next destination.
Since then, questions about the president’s whereabouts have circulated publicly. Kaab TV reported on September 6 that rumours concerning possible health problems had emerged following the Serbia trip, while stressing that those claims had not been officially confirmed.
The information obtained independently by Sunatimes from family and intelligence sources now adds a significant new dimension to those reports.
Villa Somalia Faces Questions
The absence of an official statement about the president’s health has created an information vacuum.
A head of state’s medical condition inevitably involves personal privacy. But when an illness potentially affects a president’s ability to perform constitutional duties, it also becomes a matter of legitimate public interest.
Sunatimes has not established that President Mohamud is incapacitated or unable to carry out his responsibilities.
Nor has the news agency established that his reported illness constitutes a medical emergency.
Those distinctions are important.
What remains unanswered is whether the president is currently receiving medical treatment in Switzerland, when he is expected to resume his public schedule, and whether his condition has affected the exercise of presidential duties.
Illness Comes at a Politically Sensitive Moment
The reports emerge during an exceptionally tense period in Somali politics.
President Mohamud’s administration remains locked in disputes with opposition leaders over constitutional legitimacy, elections, governance and the use of state institutions.
At the same time, forced evictions and demolitions in Mogadishu have generated substantial public anger.
The scale of that crisis is documented beyond partisan political claims.
The European Union Agency for Asylum reported 143,548 evictions in Mogadishu during 2025 alone, including 63,132 people removed from government properties. It also documented a sharp increase in government-led evictions during 2025–2026 and dozens of protests connected to land evictions.
More recently, residents demonstrated in Mogadishu’s Waberi district in August against demolitions and alleged forced evictions, while opposition politicians continued accusing the administration of improper land seizures.
The government and its critics strongly disagree over the issue. Authorities have maintained that some operations involve reclaiming public land and implementing urban-development plans, while opponents and affected residents allege unlawful dispossession.
Hostile Reactions on Social Media
Against that backdrop, reports concerning the president’s health have generated sharply divided reactions on Somali social media.
Some users have expressed concern and wished him recovery.
Others — particularly individuals presenting themselves as victims or opponents of government eviction policies — have responded with highly hostile language, including religious condemnations and expressions portraying his reported illness as retribution for perceived injustices.
Such reactions cannot reliably be treated as representative of Somali public opinion as a whole.
They nevertheless illustrate the degree of political and social polarisation surrounding the presidency.
Sunatimes does not endorse celebrations of illness or speculation about an individual’s medical suffering.
Politics Should Not Determine Medical Facts
The timing of President Mohamud’s reported illness makes separating fact from political speculation particularly important.
His opponents have strong political grievances against his administration. His supporters have equally strong incentives to reject damaging rumours.
Neither side can establish a medical diagnosis.
Only credible medical evidence or an authoritative disclosure from the president, his physicians or the presidency can determine the nature and cause of his condition.
The poisoning allegation therefore remains precisely that — an allegation for which Sunatimes currently has no medical evidence.
The same standard applies to claims involving kidney damage or any previously reported medical condition.
Public Interest and Presidential Privacy
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is entitled to medical privacy, but Somalia is also entitled to know whether its head of state remains capable of exercising his constitutional responsibilities.
Those two principles need not conflict.
An official statement could confirm whether the president is receiving medical care, whether his condition affects his duties and when he is expected to resume his normal public schedule without disclosing unnecessary private medical information.
Until such information is provided, speculation is likely to continue.
For now, Sunatimes can report that family and intelligence sources independently approached by the news agency say President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is unwell, while public records establish that his last clearly documented international engagement was in Serbia before his departure from Belgrade on September 2.
What caused the reported illness remains unknown.
Claims of poisoning, kidney complications or other specific diagnoses have not been medically established by Sunatimes and should not be presented as fact.
Sunatimes News Agency — Investigative Desk
Mogadishu / Geneva