Somalia Again

Somalia has been experiencing some of the worst scenes of political division in a year, threatening the unity of the federal states, particularly amid criticism and a clear escalation by the state of Puntland against the Mogadishu government led by outgoing President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud.

The differences between Puntland President Saeed Abdullah Dini and Sheikh Mahmoud center on the violation of the Constitution by extending the terms of the presidency and parliament by another year, as the opposition continues to refuse to extend the expiration dates of Sheikh Mahmoud’s term, which was set to end last May.

The states of Galalan and Puntland, along with prominent opposition leaders, oppose the constitutional amendments imposed by Sheikh Mahmoud’s parliament—which granted the president an additional year in office—arguing that they were not carried out legally. All have announced their boycott of the amended constitution, which was approved by the Federal Parliament in March, amid radical differences with the government, including the rejection of direct elections.

A Threat to the State’s Existence

From the very first hours following the announcement of Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud’s presidential term, Puntland President Saeed Abdullah Duni spoke out, declaring his opposition to this constitutional violation and warning that political differences could threaten the very existence of the state if a comprehensive solution is not reached before the end of the president’s term on May 15—which has not happened so far.

Later, on July 1, Duni delivered a forceful speech expressing his concern “about the political direction in Somalia, the security situation, and the rule of law, accusing the federal government of undermining key state institutions and deviating from constitutional principles.”

According to the president of the state of Puntland, the situation unfolding in Mogadishu stems from the suspension of the provisional constitution, the manipulation of government institutions, and the use of the federal army for political purposes, accusing the Mogadishu government of contributing to political division and undermining public trust.

A religious statement rejected attempts to interfere in Puntland’s internal affairs, warning against any action that could threaten the region’s stability, one day after a Saudi military delegation visited two camps in Somalia, where Riyadh is funding training operations for Somali soldiers.

The Horseid Media website quoted Puntland President Said Abdullah Dunny as saying: “We will never accept anyone who undermines the peace and security of Puntland. Our forces are ready to respond to any threat,” referring to “reports of troop recruitment and political messaging linked to federal authorities without providing further details.”

This statement represents an implicit reference to the Saudi military program in Somalia, which was described by the Digital Citizen platform as a large-scale operation taking place in the Juri Ail area of Somalia’s central state of Galmadg, with the aim of training a Saudi-funded Somali special operations force in preparation for its deployment to Sudan to fight alongside the Sudanese army.

It adds that on June 29, a Saudi military delegation visited two training camps in the region as part of a program aimed at training Somali forces, where approximately 5,107 soldiers are participating in the program, including nearly 2,000 personnel from the Puntland region, in northeastern Somalia, who are undergoing specialized training to prepare them for special military missions under the supervision of mercenary instructors from Colombia, Romania, and South Africa.

Statements from local residents confirmed “the escalation of military activity in Juri Ael over the past few weeks, including the arrival of groups of recruits, the movement of military vehicles, and the appearance of foreign individuals in military attire without specifying their nationalities or the entities for which they work.” The information indicates that foreign mercenaries from Romania, South Africa, and Colombia are engaged in training recruits.

The Sahih Al-Sudan platform quoted a Somali officer from Puntland as saying that he is participating in the program and that the force being trained is not intended to remain within Somalia, but is prepared to deploy to Sudan and fight alongside the Sudanese army and its allies from the Muslim Brotherhood

Abu Bakr Abdullah, a researcher on African and Middle Eastern affairs, states in a post on platform X that the intention is to potentially transfer some foreign mercenaries to Sudan, as a result of Saudi support for the parties to the conflict there, as this move comes after Saudi Arabia supplied the Sudanese army and its Muslim Brotherhood allies with advanced missile systems and ammunition during 2023 and 2024, while Ukrainian mercenaries trained artillery units.

In March, the United States warned that any individual or entity conducting transactions with the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan could face sanctions, after the State Department in Washington announced the group’s designation as a “specially designated global terrorist entity” and its intention to designate it as a foreign terrorist organization.

At that time, the U.S. State Department report confirmed that “the Sudanese Brotherhood uses unbridled violence against civilians with the aim of undermining efforts to resolve the conflict in Sudan and strengthening its violent Islamic ideology, as its fighters—many of whom receive training and other support from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard—carried out mass executions of civilians,

and the Sudanese Brotherhood’s Al-Baraaa bin Malik Battalion was designated by an executive order in September 2025 for its role in the brutal war in Sudan.”