Somalia's Supreme Court Blocks President's Term Extension, Voids Justice Firing

Somalia's Supreme Court just slammed the brakes on President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's bid to stretch his stay in power. On Thursday the court ruled that constitutional changes cannot be applied retrospectively to his current term. In a separate decision, it declared the president's dismissal of the chief justice "null and void" and accused the presidency of interfering with judicial independence.

The fight over the chief justice had been building. Mohamud appointed Ibrahim Idle Suleiman — who has held the post before — to replace the dismissed chief justice. The presidency said the move followed complaints about how justice was being administered and was meant to deliver a fair, transparent judiciary. The court rejected that explanation outright, insisting the chief justice can only be removed through established constitutional procedures.

Thursday got hotter fast. Former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire accused the president of deploying security forces to the Supreme Court and trying to arrest its chief justice — an "assault on the Supreme Court", according to AFP. He warned Somalia "stands at a dangerous juncture" and called the dismantling of the judiciary a direct threat to the rule of law. AFP said it could not independently verify the reported deployment, though photographs circulating in Somali media appeared to show armed personnel inside the court compound.

Former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed welcomed the rulings, saying the country is facing a grave political crisis and urging Mohamud to embrace a consensus-based approach.

The decisions have thrown Somalia's electoral timetable into uncertainty. The electoral commission scheduled parliamentary elections for 15 April 2027, with a presidential vote a month later, but opposition groups and the regional administrations of Puntland and Jubaland reject that schedule. Mohamud has called for national talks from 14 to 18 November to break the deadlock, but opposition leaders are questioning whether he has the legitimacy to convene them.

All of this lands as Somalia keeps battling the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab, which controls large parts of the countryside despite years of military operations. Uganda — the largest contributor of troops to the African Union mission fighting the militants — announced this week that it plans to withdraw its forces by the end of the year, adding fresh concern about the country's security.