On the evening of Monday 8 February, the European Union expressed alarm at the failure of talks two days earlier between Somalia’s federal government and regional states about the organisation of presidential and parliamentary elections, and called on the leaders to break the deadlock quickly.
These elections were originally meant to be held before 8 February, the end of the term of office of President Mohamed Adullahi Mohamed (known as Farmajo), who is up for re-election.
“The lack of agreement to conduct elections in Somalia is extremely serious and not in the interest of the citizens of Somalia. It is crucial that all participants continue to engage constructively to agree on the implementation of a national electoral process”, said Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, in a statement issued on behalf of the EU27.
Borrell stated that “political leaders should continue their efforts on the implementation of the 17 September agreement” between the federal government and five regional leaders, and warned that “any parallel or partial process or an extension of the current mandate of the institutions that is not technical in nature would be considered as a severe setback”.
He added: “The current political stalemate is damaging the confidence of the European Union in the progress of Somalia (see EUROPE 12065/13). President Farmajo and the leaders of Federal Member States need to resolve the political deadlock that threatens Somalia’s future and conduct elections as soon as possible”.
Farmajo blamed two regional states for the failure of the discussions. The opposition now believes that President Farmajo, whose term of office has expired, is no longer the legitimate head of the country. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)