Saturday December 31, 2022
Mogadishu (HOL) - Southwest President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen and leading state opposition figures have agreed to participate in a reconciliation meeting on January 5 in Baidoa.
The decision came after Somalia's Lower House Speaker, Sheikh Adan Mohamed Noor Madobe, hosted opposition candidates and other political figures at his home on Saturday. President Laftagareen was not present at the Speaker's home, as he was still in Mogadishu following the National Consultative Council (NCC) meeting.
Speaker Adan Madobe expressed regret for the violent clashes in Baido on December 23, which killed at least ten people. Madobe said he hopes the clashing factions can settle their major grievances at the upcoming reconciliation meeting.
The gun battle between Southwest state security forces and the opposition candidate's militia broke out at the home of former federal finance minister Mohamed Adan Ibrahim Fargeti, where opposition-loyal militia gathered.
However, Fargeti said in a press conference in Mogadishu that state security forces attacked his house in Baidoa.
Southwest PresidentAbdiaziz Laftagareen and the opposition candidates have recently been embroiled in a political stalemate over the constitutionality of his term extension.
In 2019, Southwest parliament extended President Abdiaziz Laftagaren's term for one year, pushing his mandate expiry to December 19, 2023. However, the opposition opposed the president's term extension.
A group of Southwest regional state lawmakers blamed the federal government for clashes in Baidoa late last week. They claimed that the national military was being weaponized in the Southwest and demanded that the federal government troops be redirected to the frontlines.