Pro Government Rally in Mogadishu
Hundreds of people, including Mogadishu’s clan leaders, singers, students, and members of parliament, today demonstrated in the government controlled parts of Mogadishu to protest against the political rifts among Somali leaders while at the same time rallying to support the extension of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) whose mandate is set to expire in August.
Some of the demonstrators who gathered in Hamar-weyne district were wearing the Somali flag and carried signs supporting Somalia’s President Sherif Sheikh Ahmed and Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, both of whom support a one year extension.
Many of the protesters told Somalia Report that they are completely against the upcoming UN meeting on Somalia, which UN Representative to Somalia Augustine Mahiga scheduled to be held in Mogadishu on June 12.
"Somalis own Somalia. This is our country. We were born here and we will be here till we die. Mr. Mahiga, he wants no peace in Somalia, but dividing and creating challenges among our leaders especially the president and the speaker of parliament," said a well-known Hawiye clan leader, Ahmed Diriye Ali, told the demonstrators.
"We, Somalis at home and away, cannot accept the meeting which Mahiga wants to be held in Mogadishu. I am speaking on behalf of my people in Mogadishu and the parts of the country. This meeting must be canceled unless it serves to our nation for our current needs. We want the government to extend for a year so they have time to clean al-shabaab from the country," the chairman of the Hawiye clan, Mohamed Hassan Haad, told Somalia Report.
"I had never seen a peace in my country since I grew up. I am under 20 years old and need to see that Somalia is peaceful nation one day. Our politicians have to move away from their disagreement and see their dying brothers," said Anab Mohamed Ali, a young girl with tears in her eyes.
