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DHUSAMAREB, 5 November 2026 – President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Thursday urged rivals he said had made a "hasty decision" to return and resolve their differences through talks.
"To those who made a hasty decision, we say: come back! The country is still yours, the government is still yours," Hassan Sheikh told the inauguration ceremony of Galmudug's new leader in the Galmudug capital Dhusamareb. "There is no solution in siding with the enemy. There is no solution in shedding blood."
He said the federal government's position had always been to reach political agreement through dialogue, "not through war, violence, hostility and taking up guns."
"If the government makes a mistake, we accept being corrected," he said. "But it will not be corrected with artillery."
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Hassan Sheikh warned against seeking foreign support, saying those who had gone abroad for help in the past had ended up "humiliated" and that such journeys would not end well.
He said his government would press ahead with plans to replace Somalia's clan-based indirect election system with direct, one-person-one-vote polls, saying more than 2 million Somalis had voted so far without bloodshed.
"Somalis will not be ruled by someone they did not elect," he said, describing the principle as non-negotiable.
Hassan Sheikh said he had called for talks on the country's remaining national elections and was ready to sit down with his rivals, in whatever way and wherever it took to reach an agreement.