MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has called for a new consultative summit to pick a new Prime Minister to lead the country to timely and credible elections, accusing the incumbent Mohamed Hussein Roble of failing to undertake his mandate, in what former Interior Minister Abdi Farah Saeed Juha described as a new “political coup”.
In a decree issued at 2:00 PM on Saturday, Farmajo said Roble “has failed to undertake his mandate to lead the country through elections as per 17 September 2020 Agreement and subsequent procedures issued 1st October 2020”.
The President would convene “a consultative meeting involving the leadership at Federal, State and Benadir levels geared towards charting a direction for the elections and agreeing on a capable leadership to spearhead timely, and transparent elections in the country,” the statements adds.
Farmajo has also extended invitation to Somali stakeholders “including intellectuals, politicians, and civil society for their inputs and views on electoral concerns to contribute towards coordination of elections in a peaceful and equitable environment”.
It comes days after a rift between Somalia’s most powerful leaders has surfaced again over the Prime Minister’s dismissal of 7 members of an electoral team, who had stepped into politics and conducted their tasks through bias, according to Roble.
Shortly after the PM’s move, Somalia’s Navy chief told a press conference in Mogadishu that Roble was building a private luxury house on public land belonging to the coastguard, an assertion Somali deputy Information Minister Abdirahman Al-Adala said was politically motivated, alleging that individuals aiming to undermine elections had organized the smear campaign against the Premier. read more
As tensions continue to simmer in the capital, General Yusuf Mohamed Siyad Indho-adde, a member of opposition-aligned forces who opposed an extension of President’s term in April, has said he survived an assassination attempt after he had come under a sniper fire inside the heavily fortified Adan Adde International Airport in Mogadishu. read more
There are reports of military build-up in some parts of the Somali capital hours after the President’s announcement, just months after clashes between Farmajo’s allies and pro-opposition forces racked the city.
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