Tensions are rising in Somalia’s Lower Shabelle region as a renewed clan dispute between the Biyamaal and Hawiye communities escalates, raising fears of further deadly clashes.
Members of the Hawiye clan who gathered in Mogadishu this week accused the Biyamaal clan of receiving support from Somaliland and Israel — allegations for which no evidence has been provided — and vowed to take action in Lower Shabelle.
The accusations came days after Biyamaal clan members held a protest in the KM50 area of Lower Shabelle, accusing Hawiye clan militias of seizing their ancestral land and farmland.
They called on the Somali government to intervene and prevent further violence.
The two sides have been involved in a series of deadly clashes in recent weeks.
Kaab TV reported that at least three people were killed last week in Janaale town after armed groups from the rival communities clashed over farmland. Several banana plantations were also reportedly burned following the fighting.
The dispute is rooted in long-running disagreements over ownership and control of agricultural land in Lower Shabelle, an area where both the Biyamaal and the Habar Gidir sub-clan of Hawiye have historically claimed rights to farmland and resources.
A Biyamaal clan elder, Muudeey, said the community had repeatedly raised concerns with the government but received no response.
He accused authorities in Mogadishu of either supporting or ignoring what he described as the expansion of Biyamaal control into what he called Hawiye ancestral lands.
Last Thursday, Biyamaal elders and community members gathered in KM50, an area about 50 kilometres southwest of Mogadishu, in a protest that attracted wider attention.
They accused armed groups linked to the Habar Gidir and Abgaal clans of attacking their communities and killing civilians in Lower Shabelle.
“We are fed up. We do not know what to do,” another elder Ibrahim Hassan said during the gathering, calling on Biyamaal communities — a clan within the wider Dir clan family — to defend what they described as their ancestral and indigenous lands.
In response, Habar Gidir and Abgaal elders gathered on Monday near Jazeera, about 18 kilometres from Mogadishu, accusing the Biyamaal clan of taking over land and farms they claimed historically belonged to Hawiye communities.
“This is a turning point for us now,” said elder Hassan Yusuf.
The elders also accused the Biyamaal of receiving backing from Somaliland and Israel, claims that have not been substantiated.
The Somali federal government has remained silent on the escalating tensions, despite allegations that some individuals involved in issuing threats are linked to government security institutions.
The Southwest State administration, which controls parts of Lower Shabelle, has also not publicly commented on the dispute.
Lower Shabelle has long been one of Somalia’s major hotspots for clan conflict.
The Biyamaal-Habar Gidir dispute is not new, with both communities having experienced years of violence, particularly over land ownership and agricultural resources.
Another major flashpoint in the region is the Wanlaweyn corridor, where the Gaaljecel and Shanta Caleemood clans have engaged in repeated and sometimes deadly clashes in recent years.
The renewed tensions in Lower Shabelle have raised concerns that unresolved land disputes and escalating clan rhetoric could trigger another cycle of violence unless authorities intervene.