Somalia continues army shake-up amid rising Al-Shabaab menace

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Just over 48 hours after an unprecedented short-lived military mutiny in Mogadishu, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has reshuffled the top Somali National Army [SNA] officers, a move which he termed as "normal".

Wednesday's changes affected the Infantry force and Navy, which are critical in protecting the land and waters. Infantry soldiers are those entrusted with ground combats and contribute to a significant number in any military set-up.

Brig. General Abdihamid Mohamed Dirir, who is known for his numerous battles against the notorious Al-Shabaab militants, will be the new Navy Commander. He has been leading the Infantry troops for 9 months and mainly operated in the Lower Shebelle region where the Shabaab fighters have been causing havoc.

And Brig. General Abbas Amin Ali, will now be entrusted with guiding the infantry team, who constitutes a majority of SNA troops in Somalia. Most divisions from Infantry Corps are currently trailing and neutralizing Al-Shabaab militants across Somalia.

So critical are the changes that Farmajo, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of Armed forces, is keen to have a smooth transition in 2021 when African Union Mission troops are expected to leave Somalia.

The changes in the armed forces come barely three days after a section of troops from the 27th Division staged a short-lived mutiny, over what they termed as "delayed" payments. According to some of them, the government had gone close to 20 months without settling their dues.

But in a statement on Monday, Gen. Odowaa Yusuf Rageh, who is the Chief of Defense Forces, termed the conduct of the troops as "uncalled for", while conceding that some of the concerns raised were legitimate. Some soldiers, he added, had biometric registration "issues" which are yet to be solved.

Biometric registration of the soldiers was one of the reforms engineered by top echelons of SNA following pressure from international partners, who cited several issues of corruption and opaqueness in payments of soldiers.

Records availed from the Ministry of Defense indicate that over 9,000 solders were expunged from the register during the purge, with some reports indicating that some were "ghost" workers including a number of duplications in the master register.

Also, the changes come barely a day after Al-Shabaab militants, through a suicide bomber, attacked a Turkish-run military base in Mogadishu, where one civilian died. The Turk-som camp is responsible for the training of Gorgor troops.

General Abdihamid had just been in charge of Infantry Corps for nine months until his replacement today. It's not clear if the changes were informed with recent events or it was just a normal reshuffling based on powers bestowed upon the president.

But President Mohamed Abdullahi has regularly carried out military reshuffles since taking office in 2017. Most of his reshuffles have often met resistance from a section of political elites who accuse him of politicizing military changes contrary to the law.

At one point, Wadajir party leader Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame accused Farmajo of using the military to stifle democracy in Somalia, a claim which the presidency dismissed as "flimsy and unfounded".

Last year, Farmajo elevated Odowaa to the highest military rank in Somalia, making the youngest soldier to ever hold that post. Rageh, 33, has received training from Turkey.

GAROWE ONLINE