Interior minister holds talks with elders over state formation in jowhar

Somali minister for interior, Abdirahman Mohamed Hussein (Odawa) who visited jowhar town on Friday is holding talks with traditional elders on state formation for Hiraan and Middle Shabelle region.

The conference for state formation has begun some months back and has not yet progressed to culminate regional government due to long-standing stalemate.

Somali government has been trying to appease traditional elders in both regions to participate the formation of the regional government.

Earlier this year some traditional pulled out the conference accusing the government of ‘breaking’ promises which it said resulted in their objection towards attending the proposed state’s formation conference.

Elder Ali Omar said the government should hold talks with elders who are dissatisfied with the process in order to resume the start formation conference inclusively.

“The government should hold talks with everybody who is not satisfied and the traditional elders and the officials should not underestimate the issue” said Omar.

The failure to reach an agreement and form regional government for these two regions is a significant setback to the Somali government’s efforts to spread the federalism system across the country before its mandated time goes over.