Due to the ongoing Al-Shabaab raid at the close-by Villa Rose hotel, the Speakers of the Upper and Lower Houses of Somalia have decided to postpone Monday’s joint parliamentary session at Villa Hargeisa.
The first reading of the national budget for the fiscal year 2023 was on the agenda for the postponed meeting.
The postponement was not officially announced by the speakers of the People’s Assembly and the Upper House, Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nur Madobe and Abdi Hashi Abdullahi. However, it is most likely because of the nearly 12-hour siege at the Villa Rose hotel, which is less than 1.5 kilometers from where the joint session was to be held.
The attack, which started at around 8 PM on Sunday with two suicide bombings before gunmen stormed the hotel gates, claimed at least ten lives.
Numerous individuals were reportedly rescued from the hotel, according to a police official, but as of Monday AM, specialized security personnel were still engaged in fighting with militants within the building.
Senior government officials were inside Villa Rose when the militants stormed the hotel, witnesses told HOL.
Mohamed Ahmed Doodishe, the federal minister of security for Somalia, and Abdullahi Bashir, a former employee of the Ministry of Finance, were both hurt in the attack.
A new date for the session is anticipated to be revealed by the parliamentary leadership.
In the middle of November, Somalia’s cabinet accepted the roughly $1 billion USD proposed budget.
Both domestic and foreign grants will be used to fund the $967.7 million national budget. Domestic revenue is anticipated to reach $283.3 million in 2023, an increase of $36.3 million from this year.