The African Union welcomes that the Somalian political leadership has reached a consensus on an election model, even though the bloc hoped that the country would have introduced universal suffrage in the upcoming elections, the commissioner for peace and security told Sputnik in an interview
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th October, 2020) The African Union welcomes that the Somalian political leadership has reached a consensus on an election model, even though the bloc hoped that the country would have introduced universal suffrage in the upcoming elections, the commissioner for peace and security told Sputnik in an interview.
In mid-September, Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed secured a deal on a revised election model with regional leaders, agreeing that the country would hold indirect elections in 2021.
"Obviously, as part of the African Union's promotion of democratization in Somalia, we would have hoped to see Somalia hold this year its first universal election in 50 years. But what we will see happen in a few months is indirect elections that are going to be more inclusive than previous ones that were restricted in terms of its electorate," Smail Chergui said.
The bloc still commends the political agreement between the Federal government and the states as "a significant and positive development," according to the commissioner.
"As Somalia prepares for its peaceful elections, the African Union through its mission, AMISOM, will continue enhancing both its technical and operational support to Somalia's new election bodies and security forces that will protect the upcoming elections. Somalia will continue to face multiple threats, with the presence of Al-Shabaab, annual floods, COVID-19, and locusts but what matters is the response we are giving to these threats, to ensure they do not destabilize the country," he went on.
The official noted that with the support of AMISOM, progress had been made in implementing the bloc's Somali Transition Plan, but a lot was yet to be done.
"Our approach with the Somali government will continue to focus on both military and non-military means. A key example of where this approach has worked is in the [the southern region of] Lower Shabelle. Together with our Somali counterparts, we have recovered series of territory from Al-Shabaab [part of al-Qaeda terrorist organization, banned in Russia]," Chergui noted.
The African Union and Somalia now hope to replicate the approach across the country, the commissioner noted.
