Mediation Committee meets both Gov’t, Opposition in Somaliland

Hargeisa, – CBA TV, – A mediation Committee comprising of key businessmen and elders have met both the opposition parties in Somaliland and the president in a bid to broker a deal between the two parties.

The committee led by Mohamed Ahmed Farah has convinced the president to release two Waddani party officials arrested seven days ago.

In a press conference held in the capital Hargeisa, a volunteer mediation committee which has taken it upon itself to broker a deal between the president and his ruling party Kulmiye, and Opposition parties who have disputed the recently sworn in Electoral Commission, has said it has met the parties and have given the committee their blessings to resolve their dispute.

The mediation committee comprising of key businessmen and elders said they have met the president and some of his cabinet members yesterday.

The chairman of the volunteer mediation committee Mohammed Ahmed Farah said President Muse Bihi has promised to release detained Waddani party officials, its secretary-general Kadhar Hussein and the party’s spokesman Barkhad Jamaa Batun who are in police custody for seven days now.
Mohammed Farah said, “We have asked the president to release detained Waddani party officials, and the president has accepted our plea and has ordered the security agencies to immediately release them”.

The committee’s press conference comes at a time when the country is at grips of political crisis triggered by the dispute over the electoral commission. Yesterday, on Sunday, the opposition parties UCID and Waddani announced that they will not cooperate with the electoral commission unless the controversial members are suspended.

The committee has urged the people of Somaliland to bestow legitimacy upon them and has promised to secure and resolve the dispute between the government and opposition parties.
The group has also urged the government and the opposition to avoid anything that will escalate the political tension in the country.

“We would like to tell all the people of Somaliland and everyone who minds the security and prosperity of Somaliland that the committee is now spearheading the talks and negotiations between the two parties groups,” said Mohammed Farah.

He added that “We will not relent until when we resolve the matter.
The group has urged the government and the opposition parties and everyone in the country to avoid anything that will escalate the political tension in the country”.

Even as the volunteer council promised to resolve the stalemate between parties in the country, Opposition party WADDANI has denounced to fight what they called the “illegal and dictatorial” actions of the Somaliland Government.

Waddani party also defended its right to continue public gatherings and rallies of its supporters and promised to pursue other legal ways to mobilize Somaliland People.

Yunis Dekow