Tuesday March 23, 2021
CREDIT: VILLA SOMALIA
Mogadishu (HOL) - The Baidoa Technical Committee is expected to makes its presentations on elections recommendations on Monday as electoral talks in Mogadishu enter the second day despite the nonattendance of Puntland and Jubaland.
The 14-member team was appointed by government and regional leaders in February after Farmajo-endorsed talks with the FMS failed to materialize. The group was tasked to come up with solutions that could help break the political deadlock. At the top of the committe's list was how to manage the contentious issues of Gedo, Somaliland and the Federal Electoral Commission.
President Farmajo called for a meeting to finalize the committee's reccomendations in Garowe, but that was quickly rebuffed by Puntland and Jubaland who insisted on holdind the talks in Mogadishu.
Federal and regional leaders are meeting in Mogadishu to break an electoral impasse that has plunged Somalia into a constitutional crisis. Mandates for both the legislative (Dec 27, 2020) and executive (February 8, 2021) branches of government ended without a political deal in place. Farmajo has blamed unnamed foreign actors for sabotaging the talks while his detractors say that this was a crisis Farmajo engineered to earn an extension.
Farmajo whose four-year term ended on Feb. 8 has blamed unnamed foreign interventions for the failure of the talks despite his side making compromises and accused Puntland and Jubbaland states of refusing to support the pre-election deal.
The latest round of electoral talks comes amid pressure from the international community which has called for full participation and immediate resumption of talks to find a way forward for the conduct of delayed elections.