Somali opposition petitions UNSC for removal of Farmaajo

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU:  The opposition in Somalia has sought the intervention of the UN Security Council to compel outgoing president Mohamed Farmaajo to step down amid an ongoing political row that has plunged the Horn of African nation into uncertainty.

The Council for President Candidates which brings together 15 presidential candidates among them two former presidents petitioned Security Council president Barbara Woodward (UK) to step in barely two days after violence rocked the city.

“We urge your Excellency to intervene swiftly with Farmaajo as the political legitimacy of our fragile institutions require him to make immediate provisions for a transfer of power, step down from the office of the presidency, handover the power to a National Transitional Council consisting of Federal Member State Presidents and the two Speakers of the Lower House and Upper House of the Parliament, and cease all interference in the electoral process, the CPC said.

The Security Council will hold a session on Somalia Monday with elections and the ongoing political crisis expected to form the core of the agenda. UN head in Somalia James Swan will be briefing the council.

The opposition candidates have also called on the Security Council to investigate ‘atrocities committed by and on behalf of former President Farmaajo and assist in bringing those responsible to justice.’ The atrocities, CPC says involved attempts to assassinate former presidents Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and other candidates during the February 18 and 19 skirmishes that rocked the city.

The Federal Government has distanced itself from any wrongdoing and accused the opposition of using militias to attack the military.

Government forces fired live bullets at protestors led by former prime minister Hassan Khaire and Wadajir party leader Abdirahman Abdishakur on  Friday.