Sheikh Adan Mohamed Noor Madobe, the Speaker of Somalia’s Lower House Parliament, has appointed a seven-member technical committee for the impending peace conference in Baidoa, the interim administrative capital for the South West state government.
Speaker Madobe stated in a statement issued on Sunday evening that the committee’s objective was to plan the January 5 meeting.
The Speaker believed that the reconciliation meeting will put an end to the political impasse between state legislators, including opposition candidates and clan members.
Sheikh Adan Mohamed Noor Madobe, the Lower House Speaker, hosted important opposition figures and other political players at his home last Saturday, where they discussed their participation in the meeting.
At least ten individuals were murdered on December 23 in Baidoa during a battle between Southwest state security personnel and the opposition candidate’s paramilitary. The gunfight erupted at the home of former federal finance minister Mohamed Adan Ibrahim Fargeti, where opposition-aligned militia had congregated.
Later that evening, Fargeti told reporters in Mogadishu that state security personnel had stormed his home in Baidoa.
Southwest President Abdiaziz Laftagareen and the opposition candidates are at odds over the validity of his term extension.
Southwest parliament extended President Abdiaziz Laftagaren’s term by one year in 2019, increasing his mandate expiration date to December 19, 2023. The president’s term extension was contested by opposition candidates.