\t\t\tMOGADISHU, Somalia (HORN OBSERVER) \u2014 On 30 March 2026, armoured personnel carriers rolled through the streets of Baidoa. By nightfall, Southwest State President Abdiaziz Laftagareen had fled and announced his resignation on Facebook. Federal troops had entered the capital of Somalia’s second-largest state and dismantled a regional administration that had stood for seven years. Ten days later, a minister in President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s government was sworn into a parliamentary seat that had not been put to a vote. <\/p>\n
That
\nminister was Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur Jaamac \u2014 known in Somali political circles
\nas Madaxa Na Furan. On 11 August 2026, he was confirmed as Speaker of Somalia\u2019s
\nHouse of the People, winning 142 votes against his opponent\u2019s 30 in a vote that
\nlawmakers from Puntland and Jubaland boycotted as illegitimate. The story of
\nhow he arrived at the Speaker\u2019s chair \u2014 and what it means for the parliament he
\nnow leads \u2014 has not yet been told in full.<\/p>\n
The Seat That Was Not Contested<\/p>\n
Jaamac had
\ntried to enter parliament before. During the 2021\u20132022 parliamentary election
\ncycle, he was Hassan Sheikh Mohamud\u2019s preferred candidate in Southwest State.
\nLaftagareen blocked him \u2014 the delegate pools under his political influence were
\nnot available to a Mogadishu appointee. Jaamac became Minister of Ports and
\nMaritime Transport instead.<\/p>\n
When federal
\ntroops removed Laftagareen in March 2026, his parliamentary allies lost the
\nprotection his administration had provided. The MP who held the seat that
\nJaamac now occupies had close ties to the ousted regional president. Within ten
\ndays of Laftagareen\u2019s departure, that seat had been reassigned. WardheerNews
\nreported that Jaamac “recently secured a parliamentary seat without competition
\nor proper procedures.\u201d Garowe Online reported that opposition figures accused
\nhim of “taking the seat from the previous lawmaker through force and outside
\nthe legal process.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is not
\nthe first time Baidoa has been used this way. In December 2018, President
\nFarmaajo needed Southwest State\u2019s parliamentary delegation loyal to him. The
\nsitting regional president, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, was paid approximately
\ntwo million US dollars to resign, according to sources with direct knowledge of
\nthe negotiations. His most popular potential successor, Mukhtar Robow, was then
\narrested by Ethiopian AMISOM troops three days before the election. Security
\nforces fired live rounds into crowds of protesters. At least fifteen people
\nwere killed \u2014 including a child and a member of parliament. More than 300 people
\nwere arrested. The UN Special Envoy Nicholas Haysom demanded accountability.
\nFarmaajo expelled him from the country on 1 January 2019. UN Secretary-General
\nAnt\u00f3nio Guterres called Farmaajo twice to reverse the decision. Farmaajo
\nrefused. Laftagareen was elected six days after the killings.<\/p>\n
In 2026,
\nHassan Sheikh used the same city, the same logic, and the same instrument \u2014
\nmilitary force \u2014 to produce the same result. The method evolved from financial
\ninducement to armoured vehicles. The institutional outcome was identical: a
\nSouthwest State parliamentary delegation realigned to federal presidential
\ninterests.<\/p>\n
The Turkey Connection<\/p>\n
What
\ndistinguishes the Speaker\u2019s story from a standard account of Somali political
\nmanoeuvring is the foreign dimension that has received no attention in coverage
\nof the race.<\/p>\n
Jaamac
\nreceived his education in Ankara on a scholarship from the Turkish government.
\nHe lived in Turkey for eight years and graduated from Ankara University\u2019s
\nFaculty of Political Science. He served as Second Secretary at Somalia\u2019s
\nembassy in Ankara from 2009 to 2012, then as First Secretary from 2012 to 2016.
\nHe is fluent in Turkish. When he was appointed Justice Minister, his first
\nofficial foreign visit was to Turkey. He told Anadolu Agency on the record that
\nTurkey is his “second home.\u201d Turkey\u2019s state broadcaster TRT Afrika has
\npresented him as the most emblematic product of Turkey\u2019s scholarship program in
\nSomalia.<\/p>\n
As Defense
\nMinister, he personally signed the Defense and Economic Cooperation Framework
\nAgreement with Turkish Defense Minister Ya\u015far G\u00fcler in Ankara in February 2024
\n\u2014 the most significant military cooperation agreement between the two
\ncountries. In April 2026, he accompanied President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to the
\nAntalya Diplomacy Forum, where the Somali delegation met with President
\nErdogan. The troops who entered Baidoa on 30 March 2026 and cleared his path to
\nparliament included Turkish-trained elite units.<\/p>\n
What the Speakership Controls<\/p>\n
The Speaker
\nof the House of the People controls which legislation reaches the floor, which
\ncommittees review which agreements, and which international frameworks receive
\nparliamentary approval. Every Turkish port deal, security agreement, and
\nmilitary contract that the federal government enters into with Ankara must pass
\nthrough the parliamentary oversight that the Speaker now leads.<\/p>\n
Somalia\u2019s
\nnaval basing agreement with Turkey \u2014 one of the most consequential foreign
\narrangements in the Horn of Africa \u2014 was signed without adequate parliamentary
\nscrutiny. Future agreements of the same kind will now be reviewed by a Speaker
\nwho received a Turkish government scholarship, served seven years as Somalia\u2019s
\ndiplomat in Ankara, signed Somalia\u2019s most significant military agreement with
\nTurkey, and publicly describes Turkey as his second home. Axadle had already
\nnoted before the race concluded that “Somalia\u2019s agreements with Turkey on
\nsecurity, economic matters and resources require independent parliamentary
\nscrutiny\u201d and that the contest had raised “concerns about possible executive
\ninfluence over the Federal Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abdulkadir
\nMohamed Nur Jaamac did not win his parliamentary seat. He received it as the
\ndirect consequence of a military operation. He received the Speakership with
\n142 votes in a contest that two of Somalia\u2019s five federal member states refused
\nto participate in. The formal procedures occurred. They were called democratic.
\nSomalia\u2019s parliament has not always been purchased with money. Sometimes it is
\npurchased with armoured personnel carriers.<\/p>\n
_________<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
ABOUT
\nTHE AUTHOR<\/p>\n
Ismail
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\nAbukar is Co-founder and Chairperson of the Organization for Prisoners\u2019 Rights
\n(OPR), an independent civil society organization based in Mogadishu, Somalia.
\nHe has conducted primary field research in Somalia for seven years covering
\nprisoners\u2019 rights, enforced disappearances, press freedom, and electoral
\ncorruption. His investigations have been published by African Arguments and
\nHorn Observer. He holds an MA in International Law and Human Rights from the
\nUniversity for Peace (UPEACE). ORCID: 0009-0003-1435-3691 |
\n[email\u00a0protected]<\/a> | opr.org.so<\/p>\n