MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Somalia’s government on Saturday deployed dozens of police officers inside parliament to quell resistance from opposition MPs over plans to unilaterally amend the provisional constitution.
Video footage showed the Banadir regional police commander, Mahdi Omar Mumin, entering the parliamentary compound as nearly 50 lawmakers barred by the chamber’s leadership attempted to gain access. Those MPs had been prevented from entering the hall, deepening an already fraught standoff.
Despite their exclusion, chaos gripped parliament for a third consecutive sitting. Opposition MPs who were allowed inside resisted the presence of police officers in the chamber and objected to opening debate on proposed amendments to several chapters of the constitution put forward by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
Some opposition lawmakers warned that the scenes unfolding in parliament echoed a dangerous chapter in Somalia’s history. Senator Abdi Ismail Samatar said the proceedings he witnessed on Saturday, where police effectively overwhelmed the legislature, mirrored the trajectory that led to the collapse of the central government in 1991. He argued that the country now, more than ever, needed to be safeguarded from a similar fate.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is reported to be determined to secure parliamentary approval for fresh constitutional amendments, despite an ongoing dispute with the regional states of Puntland and Jubaland, as well as opposition figures. The disagreement centres on changes to the constitution that were approved last year after being fast-tracked through parliament, a process critics say lacked sufficient consultation.
The political crisis is unfolding as the mandates of both the president and the current parliament near their expiry, with no agreement in place on the electoral process. The prolonged deadlock has raised fears that Somalia could slide into a constitutional vacuum within the coming months, further testing the country’s fragile political institutions.
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