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On Wednesday in Mogadishu, forces acting under orders from Hassan Sheikh Mohamud — whose constitutional mandate expired on May 15, 2026 — fired on the residence of former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. Hours earlier, those same forces attacked a reconciliation meeting at which former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire was sitting with traditional elders, including Ugaas Maxamud Cali Ugaas. Khaire had left the fortified green zone around the airport and moved to his residence in the Howl Wadaag district to take part in Thursday’s planned protests. The attack came to him there. According to eyewitnesses and multiple media reports, the fighting continued for several hours and into the night, with forces on both sides deploying truck-mounted heavy machine guns and RPGs. At least one person is dead.
Nine hundred kilometers to the northwest, in Hargeisa, Justin Davis — the U.S. Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires ad interim and the most senior American diplomat in the region — was meeting with President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi “Irro”, his Foreign Minister, his Minister of Presidency, and Ambassador Mohamed Haji, Somaliland’s newly appointed envoy to Israel. Photos of Somaliland officials wearing lapel pins bearing the flags of both Somaliland and the United States were circulating on social media by evening.
Mogadishu: Conflict
It is not the first time Mogadishu has been here. In 2021, when then-President Farmajo attempted his own term extension, the capital erupted in street battles and the move drew international condemnation. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was among Farmajo’s loudest critics. He pushed through his own constitutional amendments in March 2026 extending both presidential and parliamentary terms from four to five years. The opposition rejected the move as illegitimate. After May 15 — the date his original mandate expired — they stopped recognizing him as president.
“For the second time in less than 24 hours, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has directed armed forces against our peaceful gatherings,” Khaire said in a statement Wednesday. “Tonight, the residence of former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in Mogadishu was repeatedly targeted by forces acting under HSM orders. These are not isolated incidents. They are coordinated strikes directed by a man whose presidential mandate constitutionally expired on 15 May 2026.”
“The forces carrying out these attacks were trained and equipped by our international partners to fight Al-Shabaab — not to be turned against Somalia’s own political leaders,” he added. “I call upon Somalia’s international partners to stand firmly in defense of Somalia’s Constitution and constitutional order.”
Former President Sharif, writing in Somali, accused Mohamud of seeking to shed blood while lacking a legitimate mandate and called on Somali security forces to refuse his orders. “This attack will not stop the demonstrations by residents of the capital,” he said.
The violence is the latest chapter of a crisis building since 2024 that has fractured Somalia’s federal architecture. Jubbaland and Puntland — two of Somalia’s five federal member states — have broken with Mogadishu entirely. Puntland suspended recognition of federal institutions and began operating independently following the constitutional amendments. Jubbaland followed after Mogadishu issued an arrest warrant for its president on treason charges. South West State subsequently joined the opposition coalition. Together the three formed the Somali Future Council in October 2025. Al-Shabaab continues to hold significant territory and control key road arteries across the country.
Opposition leaders have called for mass protests in Mogadishu on Thursday — a test of whether the government’s use of force has deterred the opposition or hardened it.
Hargeisa: Engagement
The US Representative in Somalia, Mr. Davis’s visit comes days after the State Department submitted to Congress its first formal assessment of U.S.-Somaliland engagement, required under the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2026.
For the first time in writing, Washington acknowledged that AFRICOM maintains regular engagements with Somaliland authorities and is exploring areas for expanded cooperation. The report also identified Somaliland as a potential partner for countering the Houthi threat and monitoring al-Shabaab connectivity in the Red Sea corridor, and flagged Berbera as a commercial and strategic opportunity given the port’s role as a trade corridor for landlocked Ethiopia.
Davis was part of that engagement before becoming Chargé. He accompanied AFRICOM Commander General Dagvin Anderson to the Presidential Palace in November 2025. According to sources familiar with this week’s visit, discussions covered maritime security and monitoring of the Houthi threat in the Red Sea corridor — consistent with the priorities the report laid out given Somaliland’s position near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The report reaffirms U.S. recognition of Somalia’s territorial integrity and stops short of recommending a change in recognition policy. It does note that because Washington maintains a single travel advisory covering both Somaliland and Somalia, American officials visiting Hargeisa are required to use non-commercial aircraft and resource-intensive security measures.
That gap is where Davis’s visit sits.
The Contradiction
The State Department report that preceded Davis’s visit reaffirms U.S. recognition of Somalia’s territorial integrity while simultaneously confirming regular AFRICOM engagement with Somaliland and identifying it as a security partner in the Red Sea corridor. Washington has not changed its formal position. Its practical posture is another matter.
The visit has not gone without criticism at home. Somaliland social media commentators have questioned why President Irro is receiving a diplomat whose formal mandate covers the Federal Republic of Somalia — a government Somaliland does not recognize and that does not recognize it. Some have gone further, poking fun at the lapel pins bearing both flags, asking whether a photo opportunity substitutes for the recognition Somaliland has spent 35 years pursuing.
The State Department report compounds the tension. While confirming AFRICOM’s engagement with Somaliland, it characterizes Somaliland’s separation from Mogadishu as “its refusal to cooperate with national authorities” — Mogadishu’s framing, in a U.S. government document. Somaliland has held four presidential elections and multiple peaceful transfers of power since 1991.
Davis sat across from President Irro on the same day government forces in Mogadishu were firing on a former prime minister and attacking the residence of a former president. Washington’s policy has not changed. Its engagement increasingly speaks for itself.