Mogadishu | Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as “Farmajo”, signed the controversial law extending his term of office by two years, which expired on February 8 without an election being held, national radio said on Wednesday.
Despite recent warnings from the international community, the president “promulgated the special resolution guiding the country’s elections, after its unanimous adoption by parliament” on Monday evening, Mogadishu radio announced on Wednesday.
The head of the Somali Senate had ruled unconstitutional Monday this vote of the lower house, and this resolution did not pass before the Senate, as foreseen by the legislative process.
This text also worries the international community.
The head of European diplomacy Josep Borrel said in a statement Tuesday that this resolution “will divide Somalia, create further delays and constitute a serious threat to the peace and stability of Somalia and its neighbors”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ruled on Twitter that it “further undermines the peace and security of the country” and called on “the federal government and federal states of Somalia to resume talks.”
Since the end of his term, President Farmajo has been deemed illegitimate by the Somali opposition, and several attempts at negotiations to break the deadlock have failed.
This law goes against the agreement reached on September 17 between President Farmajo and five regional leaders providing for indirect elections before the end of his mandate.
This pact abandoned the promise of “one man, one voice”, an ambitious goal that Somalia had initially set itself to hold its first fully democratic elections since 1969, but which stumbled over multiple political disagreements and especially for security reasons. .
But this process based on indirect suffrage has also led to an impasse, for which the regional leaders and the president are blaming each other.
International bodies have increased calls for dialogue in recent weeks to prevent this particularly unstable country from falling into chaos.