Mogadishu Mayor Sacked for Lack of Competence

Salad Idow Hasan (Hiis), Hiiraan Online
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Tuesday July 29, 2008

Mohamed Omar Habeb (M.Dhere)

Mogadishu, Somalia (HOL) - In a meeting held today in Mogadishu, Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) cabinet removed the mayor of Mogadishu Mr. Mohamed Omar Habeb (aka Mohamed Dhere) from his post as mayor of Mogadishu.

The Prime Minister of the TFG Mr. Nur Ade chaired the cabinet meeting where the decision to remove Mr. Mohamed Dhere from both chairmanship of the city council and his mayoral position was taken.

Sources close to participants in the cabinet meeting where the decision was taken told us that among the reasons stated for removing Mr. Mohamed Dhere from his position include incompetence and the fact that several senior members of the city’s administration complained about him and made it clear that they could not work with him.

It is also reported that Mr. Mohamed Osman Ali (aka Dhagah-tur) who is currently deputy mayor of social services will be the interim mayor of the city.

Mr. Mohamed Dhere was appointed to position of the mayor of Mogadishu on April 26 2007 by former Prime Minister Prof. Ali Mohamed Gedi in memo that noted that the president of TFG Mr. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed approved of Mr. Mohamed Dhere’s appointment as mayor of Mogadishu.

Before being appointed to mayor of Mogadishu, Mr. Mohamed Dhere was a member of a group of warlords who united under the umbrella organization to fight terrorism which was defeated by Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) in the middle 2006.

Before that, Mr. Mohamed Dhere was the strongman and self-appointed governor of lower Shebele region for five years. While acting as governor of lower Shebele, Mr. Mohamed Dhere ruled the region with iron fist and imposed high taxes but was able to make the region, particularly the city of Jowhar which is the capital of lower shebele one of the more secure cities in southern Somalia. This led to President Abdillahi Yusuf Ahmed and former Prime Minister Prof. Ali Mohamed Gedi to set up temporarily the offices of the TFG in Jowhar for nine months.

Mr. Mohamed Dhere does not have many friends among Somalia’s political elite and developed a reputation as an arrogant and confrontational man as indicated by the number of people who complained about him and some of the public statements he made while in power. He is also from the large and powerful Abgal clan which controls part of Mogadishu and several other southern cities. All this makes this an important development in Somalia politics. Observers will sure be watching very closely what moves Mr. Mohamed Dhere makes as a result of this.

Additional contribution by Mohamed Amin Ahmed, Hiiraan Online
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