Baidoa - South West State's Security Minister, Osman Isaaq Mohamed, has called on Kenya to arrest Laftagareen, the region's former president, and extradite him to Somalia. Multiple Somali outlets reported the demand, made Thursday. The minister was addressing the security crisis in Baidoa after the deadliest clashes the city has seen since March. He accused former President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed "Laftagareen" of responsibility for recent attacks and bombings in the city. He said Laftagareen must face accountability for the violence.
The demand to arrest Laftagareen lands at a tense moment for Somalia's federal system. Baidoa has become the flashpoint in a months-long power struggle between the federal government and the man who once ran South West State. Last week's battle for the city was the most serious armed confrontation since that dispute began. As a result, a political rift has hardened into open military conflict, with regional and diplomatic consequences that reach well beyond one city.
Minister's Direct Appeal to Nairobi
Minister Mohamed did not soften his language. He said South West authorities want Kenya to detain the former leader and route him back to Somalia through Interpol's international channels so that he can be held accountable.
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No Kenyan government official has publicly responded to the request as of this writing.
The Battle That Preceded the Ultimatum
The minister's ultimatum came days after Baidoa's fiercest fighting since March. Fighters loyal to Laftagareen entered the city from two directions before dawn on Monday, Aug. 17, and attacked positions held by federal forces, Reuters reported, citing a resident and a military officer.
Laftagareen's spokesperson, Hassan Mohamed, claimed on Facebook that the former president's forces had captured Baidoa's city center and called on federal troops to surrender. That claim could not be independently verified, Reuters noted. Federal forces later said they had driven the attackers out after hours of fighting.
"I saw 10 dead people, including four civilians and six soldiers from both groups," a local elder, Farah Ibrahim, told Reuters.
Somalia's Defence Ministry said its forces killed roughly 30 attackers and described them using a term the government applies to Islamist militants. It accused Laftagareen's forces of fighting alongside Al-Shabaab and said the attackers used vehicles loaded with explosives, according to Al Jazeera's report on the ministry's statement. That casualty figure is the military's own count and has not been independently verified.
The fighting hit a city already under severe strain. A July survey by Médecins Sans Frontières found that one in four children in Baidoa's displacement camps suffered from severe malnutrition, Reuters reported.
Al-Shabaab Ties Alleged as Minister Hardens Stance
Minister Mohamed escalated the federal side's accusations this week. He said fighters loyal to the former president initially looked like aggrieved kinsmen but now show clear links to Al-Shabaab. Those who surrender, he said, would go through the same process used for Al-Shabaab defectors.
Neither the minister's claim nor the Defence Ministry's account of an Al-Shabaab link has been independently verified. No court has confirmed any of the accusations against Laftagareen or his loyalists.
Roots of the Baidoa Crisis
Monday's battle did not emerge from nowhere. It grew out of a political feud that has simmered since March.
Laftagareen's administration severed ties with the federal government that month, following a dispute over elections, constitutional changes, and the distribution of power between Mogadishu and the regional states. Federal forces then seized Baidoa on March 30. Laftagareen resigned as South West president the same day and left for Kenya.
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He has been based in Nairobi ever since. Meanwhile, forces and officials still loyal to him remained active outside Baidoa. Sporadic clashes and troop movements continued in the months that followed, keeping the standoff alive without a decisive break, until Monday's assault turned it back into direct military confrontation.
Background: Interpol, Extradition, and Precedent
Interpol is a policing-cooperation body, not a court, so a "red notice" alone would not resolve the case. Any handover would still require a legal and diplomatic process between Kenya and Somalia, weighing the underlying charges and each country's extradition rules.
Kenya has used Interpol channels against Somalia-linked suspects before: in 2013, Interpol issued a notice at Kenya's request for a British citizen wanted in connection with explosives charges after the Westgate mall attack in Nairobi.
