North Eastern State Names Interim Parliament Speaker

GOOBJOOG NEWS | LAS’ANOD: Lawmakers in the newly formed North Eastern State on Monday appointed Mahamoud Salad Warsame, the eldest member of the assembly, as interim speaker of the House of Representatives.

Warsame presided over the chamber’s inaugural extraordinary session, marking the first formal sitting of the regional parliament.

The assembly is part of the establishment of the Northeast State, declared in Las’ Anod in late July as the sixth federal member state, representing the Sool, Sanaag, and Cayn regions, with a constitution adopted by 417 delegates.

The move marks a milestone in Somalia’s federalization process, offering long-marginalized communities political representation.

The Northeast State emerged after years of conflict, most notably the 2023 uprising in Las’ Anod that ousted Somaliland-backed forces, and was officially recognized by the federal government as an interim administration in October 2023.

The appointment of an interim speaker underscores Somalia’s ambition to institutionalize governance in the region under its federal framework, yet it also raises the stakes in ongoing territorial disputes and federal power struggles.