Baidoa, Somalia – Somalia’s South West state on Wednesday rejected the country’s newly signed constitution and stepped up its confrontation with Mogadishu.
Regional President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen has also declared a formal break with the federal authorities and quit President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s ruling Justice and Solidarity Party (JSP).
Speaking at a press conference in Baidoa, Laftagareen said South West would recognise only the 2012 provisional constitution.
He described that document as the only legal charter agreed upon by all Somalis.
He said the new text had been forced through by a flawed process and warned that unilateral changes risked pulling the fragile Horn of Africa nation further apart at a time of acute political strain.
In its formal statement, South West said the move was taken in line with Article 50 of the state’s own constitution and framed it as a defence of the federal order agreed by Somalis.
“The South West government makes it clear that the provisional federal constitution approved in 2012 is the legal document Somalis agreed on and the one to be followed,” Laftagareen said.
“We reject and will not accept the new constitution. It is incomplete and was passed through a defective process and corruption.”
The broadside marks one of the sharpest ruptures yet between Somalia’s centre and its federal member states.
Rows over constitutional reform, delayed elections, and the balance of power have repeatedly opened deep political faultlines across the country.
A power struggle
A day earlier, South West had already suspended all cooperation and relations with Mogadishu.
Regional authorities accused the federal government of arming local militias and actively trying to unseat Laftagareen.
Political sources say the immediate trigger for Wednesday’s total rupture was an escalating pressure campaign by Villa Somalia against Baidoa.
South West leaders accuse federal ministers close to the presidency of interfering in internal affairs and fuelling rival political camps.
Federal officials have allegedly tried to peel away local centres of authority, undermine regional revenue streams, and reshape the local security chain of command.
The official statement went further, accusing the federal government of trying to divide communities and split security forces, including police and military units engaged in the fight against Al-Shabaab.
South West also rejected what it described as attempts to politicise local security and political relations in ways that violate both the state constitution and the 2012 federal charter.
In response, Laftagareen not only broke ties but also formally withdrew his backing for local council elections scheduled for mid-April in states still aligned with Mogadishu.
South West officials later announced that Laftagareen had resigned from the JSP and stepped down as its deputy chairman for security.
The JSP was launched in May 2025, with Mohamud and Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre at the forefront, to build a party structure ahead of promised direct elections.
The looming clock
The timing of the walkout is especially damaging for Mohamud.
South West had long been seen as one of the federal government’s most dependable regional partners in a deeply fractured political landscape.
For months, Laftagareen had broadly backed the president’s push to move Somalia away from its clan-based indirect voting model towards universal suffrage.
That project gained major momentum after residents of the capital voted in municipal polls in December 2025, the first direct vote in Mogadishu since 1969.
However, the showdown comes less than two weeks after Somalia’s parliament approved sweeping constitutional changes on March 5, which Mohamud signed into law on March 8.
The controversial amendments extended the terms of the president and lawmakers from four to five years, effectively pushing back planned general elections to 2027.
The dispute has sharpened as the electoral clock ticks down.
Under the 2012 provisional constitution championed by South West, the federal parliament’s mandate expires on April 14, and the president’s term ends on May 15.
Opposition figures grouped in the Somali Future Council argue that the new constitutional amendments are a thinly veiled attempt to bypass those deadlines and extend Mohamud’s time in office.
South West’s statement also called on Mohamud and his government to reconvene the fractured National Consultative Council and meet in a neutral venue to agree on an inclusive electoral model before those constitutional deadlines expire.
The current standoff carries a heavy sense of historical irony for both sides.
Laftagareen himself came to power in a 2018 regional election strongly backed by Mogadishu’s preferred candidates.
His victory followed weeks of tension and deadly protests in Baidoa after former Al-Shabaab deputy Mukhtar Robow was controversially excluded from the race.
At the time, analysts warned that the perception of Mogadishu imposing a regional leader could inflame instability.
Now, the federal government’s once-preferred candidate is leading the charge against the capital’s authority.
Widening rebellion
The constitutional dispute has now spread far beyond South West.
The semi-autonomous state of Puntland announced in March 2024 that it would no longer recognise the federal government over the reforms.
Jubbaland followed in November 2024, suspending ties with Mogadishu after a bitter dispute over regional elections and a dramatic exchange of arrest warrants.
South West’s revolt means a third key federal member state has openly broken with the centre.
The immediate fallout was visible on the ground on Wednesday, as commercial flights between Mogadishu and Baidoa were abruptly halted.
South West’s statement condemned what it called the politicisation of civil aviation and said two flights had been turned back from Baidoa over the past two days.
However, United Nations and other vital humanitarian flights are continuing.
Baidoa, about 245 kilometres (150 miles) north-west of the capital, hosts federal troops and regional security forces.
That geographic and strategic reality makes the standoff more than a mere constitutional quarrel.
South West is a critical arena in the broader war against Al-Shabaab.
Analysts warn that the Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents benefit immensely when relations between the federal government and regional administrations collapse.
The regional administration also accused Mogadishu of politicising international aid at a time when many Somalis face low rainfall and severe drought.
South West urged donors and international partners to oversee their projects directly rather than let assistance be manipulated for political ends.
It further appealed to the international community, the African Union, IGAD, and neighbouring countries to help prevent what it described as a slide towards division and the breakdown of the Somali state.
With Mohamud now facing open, coordinated resistance from Puntland, Jubbaland, and South West, the latest rupture threatens to turn a fraught political transition into a full-blown crisis over the future shape of the Somali state.
