International partners urge Somali leaders to agree on election schedule

On Saturday, the international community called on Somali leaders to resolve outstanding issues from previous consultative meetings and agree on a short deadline for elections to implement the pre-election agreement in the new round of talks scheduled for Monday.

Partners, including the African Union, the EU and the UN, among others, said government leaders and federal member states who will attend the February 15 summit should engage in frequent consultations with other stakeholders to inform the deliberations.

“We believe it is vital that the discussions started in Dhusamareb quickly reach a successful conclusion in this next round of dialogue,” the partners said in a joint statement issued in Mogadishu.

The statement comes after President Mohamed Farmajo, seeking another second four-year term, called a consultative meeting of federal government heads on February 15 to help break the deadlock in the electoral process.

The talks to be held in Garowe, the capital of the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, come after the collapse of previous talks on February 5 in the central city of Dhusamareb.

Farmajo, whose term officially ended on February 8, has been unable to find a truce with regional leaders and agree on a schedule for the election of new officials.

Both Puntland and Jubbaland have welcomed the talks on Monday, but proposed that they be held in Mogadishu to ensure the participation of stakeholders and the international community.

But international partners said they do not believe the location issue justifies any delay at this critically important summit.

“We urge the federal government and the leaders of the federal member states, in a constructive spirit, to resolve the small number of outstanding issues from the Dhusamareb talks and agree on a short election schedule necessary to implement the September 17 Agreement,” the partners said.

They said it is crucial that the discussions started in Dhusamareb quickly reach a successful conclusion in this next round of dialogue.

“Now is the time to avoid unilateral action and move quickly to agree on the implementation of the September 17 electoral process to elect Somalia’s leaders,” the partners said.

The composition of the electoral team and the marked differences between Farmajo and Jubbaland leader Ahmed Madobe on the deployment of troops to the Gedo region are among the controversial issues. Final product