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Sheikh Sharif says Somali government failed to rebuild army after Osweyne defeat

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Tuesday September 16, 2025

FILE – Former Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed attends a meeting in Mogadishu. Sheikh Sharif has accused the federal government of failing to rebuild the Somali National Army after its defeat in Osweyne.Mogadishu (HOL) — Former Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed accused the federal government on Monday of failing to rebuild the Somali National Army after its defeat in Cowsweyne, calling the loss a turning point that exposed divisions within the country’s security institutions.
Sharif said the battle, fought on August 26, 2023, was one of the deadliest single defeats suffered by Somali forces in recent years. The SNA, which had captured the town days earlier, was overrun by Al-Shabaab fighters after a coordinated assault involving car bombs and ground attacks. He argued that the heavy losses shattered the army’s chain of command and communications, leaving frontline troops scattered and disorganized.
“Osweyne was where Somali forces were destroyed,” Sharif said. “Instead of rescuing the army, the government tried to distract the public by pushing through one-sided constitutional changes.”
The former president, who was in power from 2009 to 2012, cautioned that the government’s decision to arm select clans, rather than reforming the fractured national army, was a dangerous gamble. He said the policy risks corroding Somalia’s fragile sovereignty and further eroding the already weakened institutions of the state.
His criticism comes as the government faces growing pressure at home and abroad over its handling of security and the fight against al-Shabab.
The Osweyne defeat rippled far beyond the battlefield. More than a hundred soldiers were thought to have died, though the numbers remain contested. Al-Shabaab boasted of killing 178, while government officials spoke of 130 to 190. Survivors described how the dead were bundled into hurriedly dug mass graves, their identities lost. The militants carried off vehicles, weapons, and prisoners, while Somali forces, shaken and depleted, abandoned a string of Galmudug towns including El Dheer, Masagaway, Gal’ad and Budbud, handing back ground won only weeks before.
The loss came just four days after Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had declared in Dhusamareb that his administration would eliminate Al-Shabaab within five months. Following the defeat, he admitted the setback publicly and later ordered the arrest of officers accused of withdrawing troops without authorization. It also stalled the second phase of operations launched in 2023.

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