Somali court issues arrest warrant for Jubaland's Madobe

Ahmed Mohamed Islam better known as "Ahmed Madobe" speaks after his reelection as President of Jubaland, a semi-autonomous state of Somalia, in Kismayo, on August 22, 2019. [AFP]

A Somali court issued an arrest warrant Wednesday on charges of treason for the winner of the southern Jubaland region's election, the latest sign of a growing rift with its semi-autonomous states.

Conflict-weary Somalia is a federation of five semi-autonomous member states -- Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West -- and a central government in the capital Mogadishu.

Ahmed Madobe was re-elected to the regional Jubaland parliament on Monday in a process the central government labelled "unlawful", saying the former warlord was ineligible having already served the constitutional maximum two terms.

On Wednesday a regional court said they had accepted a request from the country's attorney general to issue an arrest warrant for Madobe, directing "the Somali national police commander to whom this warrant letter is addressed is instructed to arrest defendant Ahmed Mohamed Islaam (Ahmed Madobe) and bring him in front of the Benadir regional court".

It stated that Madobe was accused of "committing criminal acts against the unity of the Somali nation (high treason)".

It also alleged he had been "sharing information with foreign countries, an act of war against the Somali nation", as well as committing acts against the country's constitution.

Somalia, which is struggling to emerge from decades of fighting, had hoped to align Jubaland's polls with plans to introduce nationwide universal suffrage elections next year.

Somalia's leaders have up to now been selected by a complex system of indirect voting by clan leaders.

Pro-Madobe MPs attempted to disrupt parliament on Wednesday, however, the session went ahead and endorsed an 18-member election commission that will organise national polls.

Direct voting exists in the breakaway region of Somaliland, which declared independence in 1991 and runs its own affairs, but is not recognised internationally.

Neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia see Jubaland -- a lush, relatively prosperous part of Somalia where they have many troops -- as a buffer against Al-Shabaab militants who have staged several bloody attacks in their countries.