Mogadishu (Dawan Africa) – Intense political activity is underway ahead of Wednesday’s scheduled meeting between President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and members of the Somali Salvation Forum.
Sources told Dawan Africa that the joint committee—formed to prepare a possible communiqué on the meeting’s outcome—has convened twice in the past two days but failed to reach a tangible conclusion. The six-member committee includes three government representatives: Deputy Prime Minister Salah Jama, Minister of Justice Hassan Moallim, and Minister of Education Farah Sheikh Abdulqadir; and three opposition figures: former Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Mursal, Wadajir Party leader Abdirahman Abdishakur, and former Foreign Minister Ahmed Issa Awad.
Meanwhile, opposition members have been holding separate discussions at the residences of former President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and former Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble to coordinate positions and plan possible responses should negotiations fail.
In a separate development, President Hassan Sheikh visited a voter registration center in Mogadishu on Tuesday to obtain his voter card—
“One person, one vote elections in the country have been a long-standing aspiration, enshrined in our provisional constitution. For the Somali people, it is about regaining their authority to decide on the election of their leadership—whether it be Members of Parliament at the federal and state levels, the President of the country, or the leadership at the state level” said the President of Somalia
a move critics called controversial, accusing him of pushing ahead with disputed electoral plans that are at the heart of Wednesday’s negotiations
