Consultative conference on 2016 election option set for Mogadishu next week

The country’s leadership will hold a consultative conference next week in Mogadishu to establish the roadmap for the 2016 elections as the country grapples on the alternative to the universal vote which was rendered untenable.

During a meeting in the Jubbaland capital Kismayu today, regional leaders of the four states namely Galmudug, Puntland, Southwest and Jubbaland alongside President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Abdirashid Sharmake agreed to convene a joint meeting in a week’s time to find the way forward for the 2016 agenda.

The meeting, which is a follow-up of the Garowe conference in May this year also touched on the six agenda items which had been discussed in May. Jubbaland leader Ahmed Mohamed Islam and his Puntland counterpart Abdiweli Gas skipped the High Level Partnership Forum held in Mogadishu in July signaling icy relations with the Federal Government.

The leaders agreed to form a joint commission to implement and speed up the provisions of the Garowe agreement.
On federalisation and constitution, the Federal Government and the states highlighted willingness in the completion of selection and appointment of Constitutional Review Commission members and Oversight Committee for the review of the Provisional Constitution.

State formation
The leaders also discussed and agreed that the states formation process will be primarily based on the legal framework provided for in the Provisional Constitution. In addition, both sides agreed on policies favouring decentralization and finalization of regional-level administrations.
In the Garowe agreement, Puntland had pledge to contribute 3,000 soldiers to the Somali National Army, SNA as part of the security integration programme. As a follow-up to this, the leaders agreed to a quick deployment of the troops to join the SNA and promote collaborative efforts between the two levels of government in fighting militancy in the country.

Natural resources

The thorny issue of natural resource revenue sharing cropped up in the meeting even as oil contracts by the Federal Government and Regional States continue to attract public outcry. The Federal Government two weeks ago signed an oil survey deal with the UK based Spectrum ASA, a week after Puntland inked a similar one with another oil explorer, ION Geophysical.
The leaders agreed to equitably share the resources in addition to donor aid.