Monday January 2, 2023
Mogadishu (HOL) – Somalia's Lower House Parliament Speaker, Sheikh Adan Mohamed Noor Madobe, appointed a seven-member technical committee for the upcoming reconciliation conference in Baidoa, the interim administrative capital for the South West state government.
Speaker Madobe said in a statement on Sunday evening that the committee's purpose was to coordinate the meeting scheduled for January 5.
The Speaker hoped the reconciliation meeting would end the political standoff between state politicians, including the opposition candidates and clan members.
Last Saturday, the Lower House Speaker, Sheikh Adan Mohamed Noor Madobe, hosted prominent opposition figures and other political stakeholders at his home, where they discussed their participation in the meeting.
On December 23, at least ten people were killed in a clash between Southwest state security forces and the opposition candidate's militia in Baidoa. The gun battle broke out at the home of former federal finance minister Mohamed Adan Ibrahim Fargeti, where opposition-loyal militia gathered.
Later that evening, Fargeti said in a press conference in Mogadishu that state security forces attacked his house in Baidoa.
Southwest PresidentAbdiaziz Laftagareen and the opposition candidates are now locked in a political impasse over the legality 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. Opposition candidates opposed the president's term extension.
