International Partners urge Somalia’s leaders to hold crucial meeting on elections

Somalia’s International Partners — African Union Mission in Somalia, Belgium, Denmark, Ethiopia, European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Intergovernmental Authority on Development, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and the United Nations — have urged Somalia’s leaders to reconvene the Federal Government and Federal Member States leaders in Dhusamareb.

The meeting which is scheduled to hold on August 15, 2020, will be attended by all FMS and FGS leaders.

According to the AUMS, preserving the recently cultivated trust among the leaders and sustaining the consensus-building process initiated during the last Dhusamareb summit is imperative in order to keep Somalia on a stable political path.

If any leader fails to participate in the next summit, it will undermine the consensus-building process and impair the ability of the meeting to arrive at implementable decisions.

As the country prepares for the 2020 federal elections, Somali stakeholders urgently need to agree on the way forward, and on the electoral modalities in particular, without further delay.

The work of the technical committee tasked to develop recommendations for electoral modalities to be considered by the leaders is critical for the success of the anticipated summit.

It was reported that some Federal Member States are yet to send their representatives to the committee.

The Partners urged all member states to allow their representatives to participate in the work of the committee, which is already underway, while they continue to directly engage the Federal Government leadership to resolve any outstanding issues.

During the last summit, the leaders agreed that timely elections that satisfy all stakeholders and that are implementable, must take place in the country.

The technical committee should, therefore, focus on devising options for a compromise electoral model, in order to satisfy all stakeholders.

“We stress, once again, as we have done in our previous statements and in our ongoing discussions with all stakeholders, that any model dictated by a single stakeholder, or by a few stakeholders without the consent of all, will have no legitimacy and will not be implementable on the ground.

“We further stress that, with the end of the term of the 10th Parliament looming, the way forward should be agreed by all stakeholders, including the Federal Government, Federal Member States, the two Houses of Parliament, and political parties,” the partners said.

They added that no single stakeholder, including the legislature itself, should take a unilateral decision to extend the term of office of the 10th Parliament or of the federal executive.

“We stand ready to provide the support necessary for the convening of the next Dhusamareb summit and the substantive work of the technical committee,” they concluded.