NEW YORK (Somaliguardian) – The United Nations Security Council has urged Somalia’s government on Friday to organize elections “without delay”, more than a month after the term of the country’s president ended.
In a resolution, which was adopted unanimously, the UN Security Council authorized the African Union to maintain presence of its nearly 20,000 strong force in Somalia until the end of the year with a mandate to quell threat from Islamist militants to enable a “stable, federal, sovereign and united Somalia.”
The Security Council raised concerns at the delays in finalizing arrangements for elections this year. It urged the federal and regional states to organize “free, fair, credible and exclusive elections” in line with a September 17 2020 agreement.
The UN resolution has come days after Somali opposition leaders wrote to several of the country’s partner nations including the United Kingdom and the United States, raising concerns over the current leader Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo’s efforts for a “power grab” and called for immediate international intervention.
Opposition presidential candidates stressed that Farmajo intends to serve another four-year term without elections after his mandate expired on February 8 this year.
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