The United States (US) on Wednesday urged Somalia’s president and prime minister to take necessary steps to reduce escalating political turmoil in the country due to a feud between the two leaders, reported Anadolu Agency.
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee called on Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble to convene the country’s National Consultative Conference (NCC) and hold credible elections.
“I spoke yesterday with Somalia’s PM @MohamedHRoble to underscore our support for his efforts to hold an NCC meeting to correct election irregularities and swiftly conclude credible elections,” Phee said in a statement issued by the Bureau of African Affairs on its Twitter account.
The US official urged all parties to o de-escalate tensions for the National Consultative Council to convene quickly to accelerate and strengthen the electoral process. He also called on the country’s security forces to remain neutral as the power struggle between Somalia’s leaders is showing no signs of ending soon.
On Sunday, Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed issued a decree suspending the powers of the prime minister over alleged corruption and misuse of public land.
Prime Minister Roble rejected the move, calling it a coup attempt. He claimed he is the only person who is legally responsible for all government institutions and called on military commanders to obey him.
The president is under great pressure from the international community and opposition presidential candidates who are demanding him to leave office as soon as possible and accused him of staging a tremendous coup attempt.
In a telephonic interview with Anadolu Agency, Somali presidential spokesman Abdirashid Mohamed Hashi, denied the accusations, saying the only coup the president can be accused of is a coup against graft. The presidency accused the prime minister of not obeying the president’s orders.
Hashi said Roble failed to hold elections and caused delays for months, disrupted the elections implementation team and irregularly reorganized the dispute committee, derailing the election process.
