The United States (US) on Friday urged the Somalian government to immediately hold transparent and inclusive elections to end a deadlock that is threatening the strife-torn Horn of Africa country, reported Anadolu Agency.
Somalia witnessed a political stalemate as the government missed a deadline to conduct presidential and parliamentary elections by February 8 when President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed was due to step down. This sparked a constitutional crisis in the already-fragile state.
The opposition coalition now considers the president to be illegitimate and wants him to resign. It calls for the formation of a transitional national council to oversee the coming elections.
“We call on Somalia’s federal and member state leaders to set aside narrow political objectives, uphold their responsibilities to the people of Somalia, and agree to immediately hold transparent and inclusive elections,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement issued by the US State Department.
Washington said the current political deadlock in Somalia undermines progress made to date, delays reforms urgently needed for the country to continue on the path to full debt relief and hinders the fight against terrorism. Notably, there have been efforts to unite the country for several months now but none has been successful.
“The United States supports the right of Somali citizens to protest peacefully and firmly opposes the use of violence by any party,” added the statement.
The US called out Somalia’s leaders to safeguard the country’s future and reach an agreement to immediately conduct parliamentary and presidential elections.
Somali President Mohamed Abdullah Mohamed has called on regional leaders to hold talks to end the political deadlock.
Earlier this week, opposition leaders in Somalia announced a new opposition political alliance, National Salvation Council, led by Senate Speaker Abdi Hashi, to find a political consensus imperative for holding elections in the country.
