Somali crisis assuming international proportions

Ali Rajab

The political crisis in Somalia has entered a new stage, assuming international dimensions, after a coalition of presidential hopefuls had asked the international community for intervention against the intransigence of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo.

The United Nations has asked Somalia’s political parties to reach a political settlement to the crisis in their country and hold the awaited general and presidential elections.

The coalition raised a complaint against Farmaajo in a letter to the foreign ministers of the US, Britain and Turkey along with the EU, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League.

They asked these officials and organizations for help in holding the elections, noting that there has been no legitimate government in Somalia since the end of Farmaajo’s presidential term on 8 February.

The presidential hopefuls also criticized Farmaajo’s insistence to stay in the office of president until a new president is elected.

This is the reason, they said, for delaying the elections. The hopefuls expressed concern over Farmaajo’s refusal to hand over power and work with political stakeholders to conduct free and fair elections in Somalia.

They said they believed Farmaajo would not hand over power and would continue to obstruct efforts for holding the elections.

Farmaajo’s actions pose threats to Somalia’s stability, the presidential hopefuls said in their letter.

He refuses to negotiate with the regional states sincerely, they added.

The same hopefuls accused Farmaajo of restricting freedoms and preventing citizens from demonstrating to express their opinion, despite this being a right granted by the constitution.

The Somali army, they said, used to prevent them from doing so.

The hopefuls went on to say that the Somali army, in whose building the international community invested a lot, was distracted from its main mission, namely of fighting Al-Shabaab, and was used to suppress peaceful demonstrators.