He was preparing to leave Somalia with his pregnant wife. Weeks later, he was shot dead in the street.

A young rickshaw driver who had recently won the U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery was shot and killed late Sunday in Mogadishu, police and relatives said, abruptly ending his plans to migrate to the United States with his pregnant wife.

The victim, Abdirisaq Abukar Mohamed, was driving his three-wheeled motorized rickshaw in the Dayniile district when armed men opened fire, striking him in the chest and throat and killing him at the scene, according to family members. He was pronounced dead shortly afterward.

Somali police said a suspect has been arrested and an investigation is underway. In a statement posted on Facebook, Dayniile district police said officers detained Abdullaahi Ahmed Geedi in connection with the killing and that he will be transferred to court. Authorities have not disclosed a motive, and it remains unclear whether the shooting was targeted or random.

Abdirisaq’s wife, Asho Abdi Mohamed, said she learned of her husband’s death through a phone call placed from his mobile phone minutes after the shooting.
“Someone answered his phone and contacted the last person he had called, saying the owner of the phone had been killed,” she said. “That person then reached us, and we went to the area and confirmed his death.”

His body remains at the morgue of Mogadishu’s Erdogan Hospital, formerly Digfeer Hospital. Relatives said the family has delayed burial until those responsible are fully identified and brought before the courts.

“As long as there is uncertainty about who carried out the killing, the family has decided not to bury him,” said Yusuf Absuge, a relative. “Anyone involved must be held accountable.”

Abdirisaq and his wife were among this year’s recipients of the U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery, commonly known as the green card lottery. They applied in 2024 and were notified of their selection in May. Asho said she submitted the application and included her husband as her spouse, resulting in both being selected.

The couple had been scheduled to attend their visa interview earlier this month at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok but postponed it until February 2026 because Asho is in the final month of pregnancy. Abdirisaq was killed before the rescheduled appointment.

Asked whether she plans to continue the immigration process alone, Asho said her immediate focus is grieving.

Abdirisaq earned a living as a rickshaw driver, a common and often precarious form of transport in Mogadishu. He also held a diploma in laboratory science, completed in 2023, balancing his studies with work. The couple married in July 2024 and were expecting their first child.

In recent years, a number of rickshaw drivers—mostly young men—have been killed in Mogadishu under unclear circumstances, fueling concerns about the safety of informal transport workers in the capital. Police said their criminal investigations unit continues to examine the circumstances surrounding Abdirisaq’s death.

The Fifty-Year Fantasy: Mogadishu Plans a Vote While Missing a State.

The Federal Government of Somalia’s latest announcement—a supposed return to direct, one-person, one-vote elections in Mogadishu after half a century—is being celebrated by officials as a democratic milestone.

In reality, it is a political hologram: visible from afar, dazzling in theory, but impossible to touch in the physical world. You cannot stage a national election in a capital where the government struggles to secure its own ministries, let alone guarantee a safe path to a polling station.

Former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, in one of the few grounded interventions from the political class, has rejected the plan outright. His reasoning is austere and irrefutable: there is no viable legal foundation, no credible security environment, and no political consensus.

A direct vote, he argues, cannot be conjured from thin air. Trying to launch this electoral experiment without agreement from the opposition is not reform—it is denial. It resembles announcing the launch of a national airline before building a runway.

The government’s counterargument, delivered by Defense Minister Ahmed Moalim Fiqi, accuses critics of sowing instability. It is a familiar posture for governments under strain: redefine scrutiny as sabotage, label disagreement as danger.

Fiqi’s assurances that institutions are aligned and security has “significantly improved” directly contradict the lived reality of the citizens he claims to protect.

If Mogadishu were secure enough to hold a direct election, the opposition would not be able to undermine it simply by boycotting. The entire process would speak for itself.

What is unfolding is the quintessential example of the Somalia Paradox. Mogadishu produces sophisticated policy frameworks, glossy future-vision documents, and high-level conferences in world capitals.

Yet the state repeatedly struggles to execute tasks as basic as municipal governance. Announcing a direct election without resolving structural fragmentation—especially the deeply embedded 4.5 clan quota system—is not democratization. It is theatre.

Voters do not cast ballots on PowerPoint slides. Democracy does not flourish in security briefings or donor conferences. It grows only when a citizen can walk to a polling place without anticipating an explosion, an armed checkpoint, or a militia roadblock.

Somalia’s promise of a one-person, one-vote election will remain what it has been for decades: a beautifully designed blueprint taped to a building with no foundation.

A menu with no kitchen. A state announcing elections before it has secured the street outside the polling station.

Until the federal government confronts this reality—rather than crafting elaborate fantasies for external consumption—the dream of direct elections will remain exactly that: a dream performed, applauded, and forgotten, long before a single ballot is ever cast.

Somalia’s Game: Playing Washington and Beijing While Targeting Somaliland

Mogadishu’s Disinformation Machine Turns on the UAE

Turkey Withheld Explosive Intelligence Linking Somali Officials to Terror Network

Mogadishu Crisis Deepens: Photographer Arrested, Resident Shot Dead, Families Displaced

The UAE’s Unforgiven Wrath: Will Fiqi’s Blood-Stained Legacy Finally Meet Justice?

U.S. special operations forces joined Puntland’s elite counterterrorism units in a major assault on an Islamic State stronghold in Somalia’s Balade Valley, according to Somali security officials briefed on the operation.

The coordinated strike—one of the most significant joint actions in Puntland in recent years—unfolded overnight, when U.S. troops were inserted into the rugged valley aboard MH-60 helicopters while MQ-9 Reaper drones conducted precision strikes on suspected militant compounds in the Habarbakuuje and Mareero areas.

Security officials said the targeted enclave had served as a fortified hideout for a small but hardened ISIS cell, including foreign fighters from Syria, Turkey and Ethiopia.

The assault triggered an intense gun battle that lasted between two and four hours as militants attempted to repel advancing forces from defensive positions carved into the mountainsides.

Early assessments indicate that a senior ISIS commander and several of his aides were killed, with officials estimating between five and ten militant casualties.

Joint forces also destroyed weapons stockpiles and equipment believed to support the group’s gold-mining operations—an increasingly critical revenue source fueling ISIS activities in Puntland.

Puntland authorities have vowed to dismantle ISIS networks across the region by the end of 2025, and U.S. support has expanded in recent months.

American drones and intelligence assets have targeted ISIS hideouts across the Bari mountains, helping push fighters from their traditional strongholds into more isolated terrain.

A Puntland security official said the latest operation reflects “tightened coordination” with U.S. forces and forms part of a broader campaign to degrade ISIS’ financial pipelines and operational reach.

Washington has not yet publicly commented on the strike, but U.S. counterterrorism operations in northern Somalia are typically authorized under long-standing missions aimed at disrupting transnational extremist groups.

Somalia’s largest opposition alliance, the Somali Salvation Forum, has accused government security forces of carrying out forced evictions, unlawful arrests and the killing of a civilian during operations in Mogadishu’s Yaqshiid district.

In a statement released Saturday, the Forum expressed condolences over the death of Abdullahi Abdi Raage, a longtime resident of the Buulo-Geesaale neighborhood. According to the group, Abdullahi was fatally shot while speaking out against what residents described as forced displacement by security personnel.

The opposition bloc also condemned the arrest of Himilo Media photographer Abdullahi Mohamed Ali (Saawey), who was detained while documenting the evictions, and criticized what it called the unlawful detention of Kamil Abdi Macow, an employee of the Mogadishu municipal government.

The Forum accused security agencies of using excessive force and carrying out operations in violation of the law, alleging that the actions had resulted in civilian casualties and heightened fear among residents.

The group urged authorities to halt evictions immediately and to uphold civil rights and press freedoms. It also called on President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and national security leaders to hold officers accountable for abuses, warning that continued violations risk deepening public mistrust and damaging Somalia’s international reputation.

Somalia’s federal government has been forced into full digital retreat after its much-hyped E-TAS travel system was hit by a massive security breach that exposed thousands of travelers’ private data — another humiliation for Mogadishu’s fragile institutions and a stark warning from the United States about the dangers of its failed digital governance.

The Somali Immigration and Citizenship Agency (SICA) admitted on Sunday that “unauthorized actors” infiltrated the new platform, stealing sensitive information and forcing officials to shut down the entire system. The breach, confirmed by U.S. Embassy officials in Mogadishu, reportedly compromised data belonging to more than 35,000 travelers.

A U.S. Embassy security alert described the exposure as a serious cyber threat and urged anyone who used the system to assume their personal information had been compromised. American officials said the breach could enable “identity theft, phishing campaigns, and digital targeting” of Somali citizens and foreigners alike.

While Mogadishu scrambled to contain the damage — forming an emergency “national investigative committee” — critics across the region saw the collapse as a symptom of a deeper problem: a federal government obsessed with control, yet incapable of protecting even its own systems.

The irony is bitter. Just weeks ago, Mogadishu was trying to force its E-TAS system on Somaliland and Puntland, insisting that all travelers — even those entering Hargeisa — must apply through its portal. Somaliland immediately rejected the order, declaring that only visas issued by its own immigration authority are valid within its borders. Puntland followed, calling the federal system “illegal.”

Now, the very system Mogadishu tried to impose on others has imploded — leaving the world questioning whether the federal government can manage even basic cybersecurity, let alone national sovereignty.

Somaliland officials have repeatedly warned of the dangerous centralization of data in Mogadishu’s hands, calling the system “a political tool masquerading as modernization.” That warning now appears prophetic. While the federal platform bleeds private data into the dark web, Somaliland’s secure, independent visa system continues operating smoothly, trusted by international partners and airlines.

The episode has exposed not just technical incompetence, but deep insecurity in Mogadishu’s leadership — a government chasing “recognition” abroad while losing credibility at home. For Somaliland, it is vindication: a digital fortress standing firm while its southern neighbor collapses under the weight of corruption and envy.

Somalia’s Political Map Shifts as Top Leaders Unite Behind Former PM for 2026 Race.

A group of prominent Somali political figures announced on Monday the formation of a new political alliance, declaring they will field former Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdoon “Saacid” as their presidential candidate in Somalia’s 2026 elections.

The coalition, known as the National Sovereignty Alliance, brings together nine senior politicians from across political organizations, parties and regional constituencies.

Several members have previously held national cabinet posts or leadership roles and have now resigned from their respective parties to join the new bloc.

In a joint statement, the alliance’s leaders said their decision followed a series of meetings assessing what they described as Somalia’s deteriorating political, security and economic conditions.

Their statement cited concerns over “the erosion of national unity, the collapse of the economy, the neglect of social services and the loss of public confidence in the Somali state.”

The alliance named the following figures as founding members:

1. Abdikarim Hussein Guuleed

2. Fahad Yasin Haaji Daahir

3. Mohamed Abuukar Islow Duale

4. Thabit Abdi Mohamed

5. Guuleed Salah Bare

6. Abdi Adan Hoosow

7. Abdirizak Khilaaf Ahmed

8. Faarax Ali Shire

9. Duale Adan Mohamed

The new political front is entering a landscape marked by shifting alliances and intensifying maneuvering ahead of the 2026 presidential race.

With Shirdoon positioned as its candidate, the National Sovereignty Alliance framed its formation as a response to a country in need of renewed direction and stronger governance.

The grim realities unfolding off the coast of Lampedusa, where desperate men, women, and children flee failed states only to perish in the Mediterranean, are a direct, human consequence of political failure in Mogadishu.

For three decades, Somalia has been the tragic epicenter of displacement, not due to circumstance, but due to a leadership crisis defined by a failure of conscience and strategic vision.

The sight of citizens drowning while seeking escape speaks more volumes about the quality of governance than any election theater can obscure.

This crisis of conscience is matched only by a crisis of sovereignty. Under the current administration, the nation appears to be systematically liquidating its long-term national interests for short-term political expediency.

The maritime and oil/gas agreements signed with Türkiye, for instance, are being scrutinized not as partnerships, but as an effective auctioning of Somalia’s sovereign assets.

The financial calculus—where foreign powers claim substantial revenue shares of Somalia’s Exclusive Economic Zone—raises profound questions about the administration’s prioritization of personal gain over national prosperity, a dynamic underscored by Somalia’s consistent placement at the very bottom of global corruption indices.

The geopolitical danger deepens when financial instability and systemic corruption are directly linked to security policy.

Despite hundreds of millions in annual international security aid, the Somali National Army remains crippled by mismanagement, while the leadership, in a desperate gamble, entertains the deeply unsettling prospect of reconciliation with Al-Shabaab—a reckless move that only emboldens the very terrorist structures responsible for the nation’s turmoil.

This creates an emerging dynamic where the interests of the Federal Government begin to dangerously align, or at least strategically tolerate, the activities of groups potentially backed by adversarial foreign powers like Iran and its proxies.

This confluence of human tragedy, institutional graft, and strategic exposure defines the current chapter.

The administration’s failure to secure its nation’s future or even its borders transforms Somalia into a growing strategic liability for the entire region.

The world must recognize that sustaining a perpetually failed state model that generates both chaos and desperation is no longer a viable policy; it is a costly endorsement of decay.

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud: Somalia’s Ultimate Betrayer