Somali cabinet fires army chief, reappoints predecessor

BAIDOA, Somalia

Somalia’s cabinet ministers on Saturday dismissed armed forces chief Ibrahim Sheikh Muhyadin Addow, appointing Maj. Gen. Odowaa Yusuf Rageh in his place.

The cabinet made the change during an emergency meeting in Mogadishu amid rising political tensions in the Horn of Africa nation.

Rageh, who previously served as army chief from 2020 to 2023, led operations against al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab under President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s “all-out war” on the group.

According to the Prime Minister’s office, Rageh’s reappointment aims to “speed up the defense of the country and eliminate the Khawarij groups,” a term the Somali government uses to refer to al-Shabaab terrorists who had been fighting the government and AU peacekeepers since 2007.

The reshuffle comes as tensions between Somalia’s federal government and several regional states escalate over an election timetable dispute.

This week, Jubaland announced it had severed ties with the federal government, becoming the second state to do so, following Puntland’s decision in August.

Despite opposition from two regional states and former presidents, the Somali presidency recently announced an agreement to hold direct elections in 2025, the first in 56 years, with votes for parliament members and state presidents planned for September of that year.