Security Council fails to meet as state leaders keep off

By T. Roble

The National Security Council meeting which was to start yesterday and conclude today failed to kick off after regional state leaders who sit in the Council kept off widening the rift between Mogadishu and the states and jeopardizing reforms in the security sector and war against A-Shabaab.

The meeting which would have been the 8th since the Council came into being following the approval of the National Security Architecture last April by Parliament and its subsequent endorsement by donors during the May 2017 London conference was convened by President Farmaajo last week after regional states declared to end cooperation with the federal government.

In their communication September 14, the state leaders put forth two for attendance. First, the leaders said they could no longer trust the Federal Government to implement any resolutions arrived at during meetings. To secure commitment, the leaders called for the presence of a third party.

Failure by Security Council to meet detrimental to Security Architecture implementation

Secondly, the leaders said their security in Mogadishu could not be guaranteed calling for a different venue. Prime Minister Hassan Khaire however rubbished the demands noting Somalia did not need interventions to address its own challenges and secondly lambasted the state leaders over the security remark.

“Somalia now has the capacity and authority to solve disagreements in our country. We don’t need the international community to intervene in our problems,” the PM said.

AGREEMENTS

In their 7th meeting in Baidoa the capital of South West state in June, the Security Council in a communique highlighted major agreements between the two levels of government. Notable, the communique stated, the leaders had agreed on revenue sharing between the two levels, the 2020 electoral model and Security Transition Plan.

However in their meeting under the auspices of the Cooperation of Inter-State Council in the coastal city of Kismayu early this month, the state leaders accused the government of failing to actualize agreements key among them revenue sharing.

“The Council emphasize that the majority of the funds of the Government Revenue and International Aid is entirely spent on activities which is a violation for the federalism principle of shared revenue and shared responsible,” the CIC said.

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