Tuesday November 26, 2019
HARGEISA (HOL) - A committee of elders in Somaliland said Tuesday it had successfully mediated the release of Waddani party officials who were arrested last week following planned protests in Hargeisa.
The council chairman Mohamed Ahmed Farah said in a media conference the elders, acting on on their own accord met with President Muse Bihi and Waddani leader Abdirahman Irro separately.
“The president accepted our plea to release the officials of Waddani party and ordered the security officials to release them,” Farah said.
The committee comprising elders and businessmen said they joined hands to resolve the political row following recent political instability in the break-away region. Security forces in Hargeisa detained Waddani secretary general Kadhar Hussein and the party’s spokesman Barkhad Jamaa Batun last week ahead of planned protest.
The party had protested what it termed as illegal selection of commissioners to the electoral commission accusing Bihi’s administration of appointing cronies.
The Somaliland National Electoral Commission (SNEC) commissioners were sworn in Monday but the oppositions parties Waddani and UCCID vowed not to recognize them.
Somaliland parliament announced extension of term Sunday with Upper House (Guurti) giving itself three more years and the Lower House two years putting off elections which have been postponed six times since 2010.