In 2019, Mogadishu began the process of extending new offshore licenses to US-based oil giant ExxonMobil and others, which put their operations on hold after a civil war gripped Somalia decades ago. The hotly contested law permitting oil licenses split Somalia’s five states along similar lines to the recent election debate.
Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as Farmaajo, has backed away from plans to extend his term for two years amid an intense debate about election structure. The move comes amid intense pressure for all sides to avoid a return to civil war.
Farmaajo told the nation he would appear before the Somali parliament on Saturday to “gain their endorsement for the electoral process” and he urged oppositional forces to join him for “urgent discussions” on how to proceed with the election, which was originally scheduled for December 2020.
Somalia’s newly-elected President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo addresses lawmakers after winning the vote at the airport in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, February 8, 2017
That deal was intended to lay the groundwork for a new indirect election process, but amid a number of intense disagreements about implementation, and in particular how the issue of the self-styled Republic of Somaliland, a breakaway region without international recognition, would be accounted for. As a result, the December election was cancelled and Farmaajo remained in office past his expected February departure.
The two states, which previously supported Farmaajo’s position on holding this election in the older one-person-one-vote format, joined two other states, Puntland and Jubaland, which have staunchly opposed that method, leaving the president with South-West as the only state supporting him.
Rickshaw taxis are parked as they wait to evacuate civilians fleeing following gunfire between factions within Somalia’s security forces near KM4 in Hodan district of Mogadishu, Somalia April 26, 2021.
Farmaajo also blamed the crisis on “individuals and foreign entities who have no aim other than to destabilize the country.”
In comments posted on social media on Wednesday, Warsame accused Farmaajo of continuing to “plot” with Parliament Speaker Mohamed Mursal Sheikh, noting that the president had not actually rescinded his two-year extension. Warsame urged Roble to seize control of the situation, and said that “in order to reach an inclusive agreement, all the stakeholders have to take part in the talks so [as] to resolve the outstanding issues once & for all.”
Although former US President Donald Trump pulled the roughly 700 US troops out of Somalia in December, clandestine ops and airstrikes have persisted. Military Times reported on Wednesday that those troops, now based in nearby Kenya and Djibouti, are “commuting” into Somalia to perform the same missions they were before.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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