Somalia’s federal government is in a fragile position since parliament voted last month to oust Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire. Mr Mohamed accepted the lawmakers’ decision and is expected to appoint a new prime minister soon.
The government is also engaged in a standoff with regional states after parliamentary and presidential elections were postponed. While the government faced security and logistical challenges, critics condemned the move, with opposition parties accusing the election commission of collaborating with the current government to extend its term.
Seeking to capitalize on political instability, the Shabab have continued to carry out deadly attacks. Last week, 19 guards and inmates at the central prison in Mogadishu were killed after Shabab militants, trying to escape from the prison, managed to secure weapons and then turned security forces into a shootout.
In July, the group carried out attacks on security forces in two of Somalia’s largest cities. And in June, the Shabab, whose tactics are more extensive, despite the occurrence of defects and air currents by the United States, attacked a major Turkish military base in Mogadishu.
In January, the extremist group also took over a Kenyan military base that housed U.S. troops, just days after it was suspected of carrying out the attack that killed 82 people in Mogadishu – the deadliest in the country in years.
One frequent target for the Shabab was settlements along Lido Beach.
Before the fall of President Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991 and the decades of civil war and bloodshed that came to define Mogadishu, Lido Beach was a hotbed of clubs and cafes. With the longest coastline on the African mainland, Somalia and its capital became widely known as the “pearl of the Indian Ocean.”
To return to the beach in peace means for many in Somalia a return to a better life.
In a Twitter peal on Monday morning, Mr Nor, the owner of the hotel, condemned the attack and said he was resolute in continuing to invest in Somalia and create more jobs.
