PM Roble pressured by Farmaajo’s faction to cancel meeting with opposition

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU: Prime Minister Mohamed Roble was pressured by Villa Somalia to cancel today’s meeting with opposition candidates amid jitters at the top office that Roble was outshining his boss in the ongoing electoral battles.

Sources privy t the developments told Goobjoog News Roble was under intense pressure from Farmaajo’s camp to ‘go slow’ following his two round of meetings with the opposition leaders which have received international praise.

The international community and other foreign diplomats have lauded Roble’s efforts which have seen him win confidence from the opposition, unlike his boss who has been roundly condemned and widely accused both by the opposition and a section of Federal Member States.

The meeting was set to take place today but developments in the last three days may have informed the move to cancel the meeting. Following ‘fruitful’ talks between Roble and the Council of Presidential Candidates (CPC) on Monday, Farmaajo announced a meeting with FMS leaders set for Thursday (today) in Mogadishu.

The CPC immediately lashed out at Farmaajo for seeking to frustrate their engagement with the Prime Minister noting they too had fixed another meeting for Thursday. The PM who is the head of the executive normally attends the Farmaajo-FMS meetings.

However, Farmaajo’s efforts came a cropper Thursday after the FMS leaders failed to turn up in Mogadishu for the meeting.

Roble has increasingly been seen by Farmaajo’s camp as ‘lenient’ and leaning towards the opposition attracting subtle fights from Farmaajo’s men. He struck a deal with the CPC last week to have the protests proceed and also acceded to a demand to form a probe team following CPC’s claims that Farmaajo was intent at assassinating some of its members using the military.

As the infighting picks tempo, the prospects for an electoral deal could become more elusive by the day.