Somaliland President holds talks with EU Envoy

SOMALILAND.COM – Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi yesterday has met with the European Union ambassador to Somalia, Nicolas Berlanga Martinez at his office.

In a brief statement, the presidency said the two discussed the role of international partners in Somaliland’s development and increasing the EU’s aid to Somaliland. 

President Bihi and Ambassador Martinez also discussed the overdue parliamentary and local elections. The ambassador has been returning to Somaliland over and over since mid-2019 to help in breaking the electoral impasse in the country.

Somaliland’s international partners led by the EU envoy, Nicolas Berlanga Martinez have repeatedly insisted on holding parliamentary and local elections this year.

The prolonged dispute over the National Elections Commission has been the stumbling block that prevented the nation from continuing its democratic momentum after the 2017 presidential elections.

The last initiative that broke down in the face of political actors belligerence was proposed by an independent mediation committee comprised of elders. It called for the dismissal of the current elections commission and replacing it with its predecessor. 

The government and the opposition parties initially welcomed the proposal while Ambassador Berlanga has endorsed it. However, the government finally said it does not have legal grounds to disband the NEC, and called stakeholders to jointly convince the current commissioners to voluntarily resign from their positions.