Somalilandsun: President Farmajo of Somalia has been accused of using crack Turkish trained Cheetah Unit to intimidate candidates opposing him in the forthcoming presidential elections.
The accusations were made by the council of opposition presidential candidates this Thursday following the deployment of the Haram’ad (chetaah) police unit at their headquarters in Mogadishu as well as the residencies of candidates Hasan Sheikh Mahmud, Abdirahman Shukri and Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
“apart from road blocks mounted by the unit in various Mogadishu streets, the houses if our three colleagues are completely surrounded thus denying both entry and exit” said the council in a Somali language statement below.
Earlier on the council of opposition candidates had urged Turkey to temporarily shelve it’s plans to supply the cheetah unit with new weaponry until after the presidential elections.
In a letter dated 12 December and sent to the Turkish ambassador in Somalia, the opposition candidates said they had learned Turkey was planning to deliver 1,000 G3 machine guns and a large number of bullets.
They noted that the federal government has been using the Harma’ad forces to suppress its opponents in regional elections and expressed worry that the weapons and ammunition will be used to “hijack” the 2020/21 elections.
