Friday September 11, 2026
Mogadishu (HOL) — Hirshabelle Vice President Yusuf Hagar Dabageed has accused Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of reneging on a promise that the Hawadle clan would take the leadership of Hirshabelle in the upcoming regional election.
Speaking at a gathering of Hawadle elders and politicians in Mogadishu on Friday, Dabageed said a committee led by Ugaas Yusuf Ugaas Hassan, and including politicians, businesspeople and elders, had discussed the issue with President Hassan Sheikh three months earlier.
According to Dabageed, President Hassan Sheikh later assured members of the committee that the Hirshabelle presidency would be allocated to the Hawadle.
But Dabageed said the president later met separately with him and other politicians and informed them that he had reversed the earlier commitment.
“Three months later, the president met individually with me and other politicians and informed us that he had reneged on the promise made to the Hawadle and had instead awarded the Hirshabelle presidency to Ali Gudlawe,” Dabageed said.
The Hirshabelle vice president added that he had expected Hassan Sheikh, whom he described as a leader familiar with Hirshabelle’s political situation, to honour the previous understanding.
“I regarded him as a president who would not break his word,” Dabageed said.
He said he believed the president would not change an agreement reached with Hawadle elders and politicians.
“In our last discussion, President Hassan Sheikh told me, ‘I have nothing for my maternal relatives, but please campaign for me within the clan.’ I asked him, ‘If the clan supports me, will you give me the seat?’ He replied, ‘I will give it to Ali Abdullahi Hussein Gudlawe.’ I told the president, ‘I cannot campaign for Ali within my clan. I do not believe anyone else from the Hawadle clan would step aside and allow that to happen.’”
Dabageed called on the Hawadle community to consult collectively on the matter, saying any decision about the clan’s political future should involve elders, politicians and members of the diaspora.
His remarks come after earlier reports that President Hassan Sheikh, Hawadle traditional leader Ugaas Yusuf Ugaas Hassan Ugaas Khalif and senior politicians had agreed on a single candidate from the community to contest the upcoming Hirshabelle presidential election.
Sources familiar with those discussions said the leaders later agreed to authorize the president to choose the community’s candidate.
The meeting at the presidential palace followed several rounds of consultations between the president and Hawadle leaders over the succession in Hirshabelle.
The discussions were part of a broader political understanding that the next president of Hirshabelle would come from the Hawadle community, while outgoing President Ali Abdullahi Hussein Gudlawe is from the Abgaal community.
