Somalia: MPs “blocked” by NISA from traveling to Gedo region

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A Somali MP says he and two of his colleagues in parliament have been blocked from traveling to the Gedo region amid an ongoing political crisis between the central government and Jubaland, Garowe Online reports.

Abdullahi Yusuf Hassan, a member of the Somali Federal Parliament, told local media that NISA officers barred them from boarding a flight at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport for two days while heading to Gedo region.

Hassan said the move was behind by Villa Somalia to push for sanctions against their Jubaland, blaming FGS for using the country’s airspace as a political weapon to fight the State’s president, Ahmed Madobe in Kismayo.

“We were denied access to catch a flight to Bardere town by NISA acting on orders from Villa Somalia. This move can have a serious ramification on the political stability and the unity of the country,” he said.

This comes after Jubaland state security Minister Abdirashid Janan has on Friday, January 31 arrived in Kismayo by boat following 72 hours after he has escaped from NISA-run detention in Mogadishu.

Continuing, the legislator added their trip was to assess the current situation in Gedo province, where the current Somali Government based in Mogadishu is trying to install a “puppet” anti-Madobe regional administration.

The FGS has failed to oust Ahmed Madobe in the last August 2019 elections held in the port city of Kismayo, which he won reelection, the second term in office as President of the southern Jubaland state of Somalia.

The lawmaker also accused the FGS of deploying combat troops to Bardere and Garbaharey with an aim to capture Jubaland-controlled Dolow and Beled-Hawo towns near Somalia’s porous border with Kenya.

In November 2019, a female MP Dalyes Hassan Aden accused the National Intelligence and Security Agency [NISA] of blocking her from traveling to her constituency in the Gedo region and she was informed she could not travel.

The government has suspended all flights to Kismayo in September 2019 to stop guests from within and outside Somalia to attend the inauguration of Jubaland president Ahmed Madobe in the same month, leading to a postponement.

The ban affected former Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed whose delegation was rejected from traveling to Kismayo for Madobe’s inauguration ceremony. The move drew condemnation and stirred a tension.

GAROWE ONLINE