Southwest State suspends cooperation with Somalia's PM

BAIDOA, Somalia - Somalia's election conflict escalated on Tuesday after Southwest State suspended cooperation with Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, who is directly responsible for the coordination of the delayed polls.

In a statement, Southwest said it will not cooperate with PM Roble, arguing that he is "withholding" seats where elections had taken place and interfering with the independence of the electoral commissions.

This comes hours after Roble suspended two key members of the Federal Electoral Implementation Committee (FEIT) —Mohamed Irro and Abdirahman Adam—on grounds that they were being used to derail elections.

But Southwest insists that Roble's decision to dismiss the committee members was illegal and unconstitutional. The state maintains that it will "never accept the reckless behavior of PM Roble."

"The PM has kidnapped members of the FEIT and, while hiding behind them, illegally withheld three seats from the SWS [Southwest State] with no reason. SWS considers such a move to be politically motivated and has made it very clear that it rejects this blatant attack to derail the electoral process."

Meanwhile, Galmudug state has issued a statement, expressing its deeply concerned about the fallout between PM Roble and the Southwest State of Somalia.

"The Galmudug government recognizes that the country's elections were conducted in consultation, compromise, and consensus and regrets actions that can create an atmosphere of political instability that would jeopardize the completion of the elections. The Galmudug government emphasizes the need to maintain the agreed process, ensuring that the National Consultative Forum resolves any disputes," the statement added.

Galmudug’s President Ahmed Abdi Karie, alias Qoorqoor, and his Southwest counterpart Abdiaziz Lafta-Gareen are close allies of outgoing Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo who is at loggerheads with Roble.

FEIT has already published 299 names of MPs, ignoring four where elections had been suspended. One of the affected individuals is Fahad Yasin, the former spy chief who is currently the national security advisor of Farmaajo.

GAROWE ONLINE