By Ismail H. Warsame/Garowe/Toronto
President

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says his visit to Galmudug carried “a clear message of peace & unity” and reaffirmed a commitment to security, state-building, democratic transition and a prosperous Somalia.
Fine words. But in southern Galkayo, the camera lenses appear considerably less diplomatic.
Look at the photographs released from the visit. Forget the prepared statement for a moment. Forget the carefully arranged greetings, the political choreography and the familiar vocabulary of peace, unity, security and prosperity. Look instead at the security posture surrounding the presidential movement.
The pictures show a heavily guarded visit. Uniformed personnel are conspicuous. Security appears tight around the President and his entourage. Whatever the precise operational reasons for those precautions, the visual impression is unmistakable: this does not resemble the relaxed arrival of a national leader visiting a politically settled city. It resembles the movement of a president through territory regarded by his own security apparatus as sensitive.
There lies the irony.
Peace Arrives Surrounded by Guns
President Hassan Sheikh tells Somalis that he has brought Galkayo a message of peace. Yet peace apparently required an impressive escort of armed men.
Perhaps this is Somalia’s newest political doctrine: peace must travel in a military convoy.
No sensible person objects to presidential security. Somalia remains a dangerous country, and any Somali president requires protection wherever he travels. But Galkayo is not just another destination on the presidential itinerary. It is a historically divided and politically delicate city, administered by Puntland in the north and Galmudug in the south. Every presidential movement there carries symbolism far beyond an airport reception.
That is precisely why appearances matter.
A federal president genuinely seeking to lower tensions around Galkayo should look like a mediator between Somali communities, not a political commander inspecting one side of a strategic fault line.
The distinction is fundamental.
A President of Somalia—or President of One Side?
The presidency of the Federal Republic is supposed to stand above the quarrels of Federal Member States. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is constitutionally the president of the entire federation, not merely the political patron of administrations friendly to Villa Somalia.
Southern Galkayo therefore presents him with a test of statesmanship.
If the purpose is peace, where is the visible federal effort to engage both administrations sharing this troubled city? Where is the corresponding political outreach to Puntland? Where is the unmistakable signal that Villa Somalia understands the extraordinary sensitivity of moving presidential politics into one half of a divided urban community?
You cannot preach national reconciliation while appearing politically comfortable on only one side of a divided city.
Galkayo has buried too many people for such theatre.
The Camera Has No Press Secretary
Politicians have an advantage over photographs: politicians can explain themselves.
Photographs cannot.
A presidential communications office can write that a visit represents peace, prosperity, democracy and national unity. A camera merely records what stood before its lens.
And sometimes the camera becomes the most inconvenient journalist in the country.
The images from southern Galkayo do not prove that Hassan Sheikh came seeking confrontation, and it would be irresponsible to claim that they do. But they certainly illustrate the atmosphere of security and political sensitivity surrounding the visit. That atmosphere cannot simply be erased by attaching the word peace to a social-media statement.
The question therefore is not whether the President had soldiers protecting him. Of course he did.
The question is why a visit advertised as a national peace mission should take place in such a politically charged environment without an equally visible effort to reassure the other administration governing the same city.
That is where the political problem begins.
Puntland Is Watching
Puntland authorities are undoubtedly watching developments around southern Galkayo closely. They would be negligent if they were not.
Galkayo is not an ordinary border town. It is a divided city whose stability depends upon restraint, communication and a careful political equilibrium between Puntland and Galmudug. Miscalculation by either administration—or intervention by Mogadishu perceived as favouring one side—could disturb an arrangement purchased through years of painful experience.
This is therefore no place for political muscle-flexing.
If Villa Somalia intends reconciliation, it should communicate directly and transparently with Garowe. If it intends security cooperation, that cooperation should respect federal jurisdictions. And if Hassan Sheikh genuinely wishes to demonstrate national leadership, he should behave not as the political ally of one administration but as the president responsible for citizens on both sides of Galkayo.
That would be statesmanship.
Everything else is photography.
Prosperity Cannot Be Declared From a Podium
There is another irony in the presidential message.
Somalia is forever being promised prosperity by politicians surrounded by machine guns.
Prosperity, unfortunately, has stubborn requirements. It needs predictable government, functioning institutions, secure roads, investment, independent courts, political accommodation and citizens confident enough to build businesses without wondering which armed dispute will erupt next.
It cannot be announced into existence.
Neither can democratic transition.
Nor can national unity.
These things are constructed painstakingly through political compromise and institutional behaviour. They are especially fragile in places such as Galkayo, where irresponsible national politics can reopen wounds that local communities have spent years trying to close.
Leave Galkayo’s Peace Alone
Galkayo does not need another political experiment imported from Mogadishu.
Its people need commerce, roads, schools, functioning municipal institutions, freedom of movement and cooperation between the two administrations. They need the city gradually transformed from a symbol of Somali division into an example of how divided communities can nevertheless coexist.
The Federal President could contribute enormously to that objective.
But first he must demonstrate that his presidency belongs equally to the people north and south of Galkayo.
Peace cannot arrive wearing the colours of one political camp. Unity cannot be proclaimed while federal relationships deteriorate. And prosperity cannot be photographed into existence.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says his visit carried a message of peace.
Good.
Now comes the harder part:
Make the politics look like the message.
Because in southern Galkayo, the cameras have already delivered their own communiqué.