CIC now an opposition outfit, HirShabelle’s Waare says

HirShabelle state has further distanced itself from the regional states club pouring cold water on the upcoming conference slated for this week in Garowe.

In a terse statement Saturday, HirShabelle which has since fallen out with the rest of the federal states said the Council of Inter-Governmental Cooperation (CIC), a forum for state leaders was being turned into ‘an opposition outfit’.

“The Council was not established to serve as an opposition alliance or for the interests of one or two sates or to obstruct the Federal Government,” said Waare barely two weeks after a truce with Mogadishu.

Waare said the formation of the CIC was aimed at addressing interests of the state and to work with the federal government in areas such as federalism, resource sharing, constitution, inclusive politics and the path to the 2020 elections.

During a four days meeting in Kismayu early September, the four state leaders, Waare included unequivocally declared the cession of relations with the federal government. They cited interference, failure to act on agreements among a raft of grievances. But Waare would later in the month switch sides declaring ‘cooperation with the federal government’.

NOT PARTY

In today’s statement, Waare reiterated his stance noting that his administration would not be party to ‘any conference which goes against the goals which guided the establishment of the Council’.

The other state leaders- Puntland’s Abdiweli Gaas, Jubbaland’s Ahmed Madobe, Sharif Sheikh Adan of Southwest and Ahmed Haaf from Galmudug are expected to meet in the capital of Puntland, Garowe this week. The four have since maintained their non-cooperation stance with the federal government. Puntland barred federal Planning Minister Hassan Jamal last week from addressing a local university noting the Kismayu declaration was still in force.

Waare  added today that any decisions reached in the upcoming conference are ‘illegal’ observing the founding articles of the CIC provided that decisions arrived at without the input of one party are illegal.

The CIC is however not a legal body anchored in any legal framework but rather a gentleman’s arrangement among federal state leaders.

Disputes with the federal government must be resolved through dialogue, compromise and in the interest of national security and the people, Waare observed.

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