Hiiraan Online
By Shafi’i Mohyaddin
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mahamoud is facing very tough challenges in his attempts to end the political repercussion in the south-western city of Baidoa where clan representatives recently elected two different regional presidents each claiming to be the legitimate president for the controversial regional state.
Leading a large delegation of cabinet members and MPs, President Hassan arrived in Baidoa on Sunday in a bid to end the political rift that caused huge divisions amongst the city’s nearly 300,000 inhabitants each supporting a different administration.
The main objective of the president’s trip to Baidoa is to prevent bloody violence from taking place, as each of the self-declared state leaders was committed to implementing political views in the region.
Analysts believe that President Hassan will have difficulties in persuading the leaders of the opposing regional states to withdraw from their claims and convene for another conference to elect a single regional state president.
The region’s leading politicians, PMs and businessmen have been lobbying for the six-regions state, while the rest including Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden are lobbying for the federal government’s recognition of a different state comprising of 3 regions.
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