Parliament assigns 15 member committee task to probe Qalbi Dhagah extradition

Parliament has appointed a 15 member committee to investigate the circumstances under which ONLF senior leader Abdikarim Muse aka Qalbi Dhagah was handed over to Somalia following a heated debate over the matter last week in the House.

House speaker Mohamed Jawaari said the 15 lawmakers will be expected to present a report to the House by October 10.

The formation of the committee follows a heated debate by the House last week in which some lawmakers questioned the rationale employed by the cabinet to extradite Qalbi Dhagah while others said lawmakers should first acquaint themselves with the cabinet ruling ahead of the debate.

Public uproar has been raging over the extradition and subsequent move by the government to declare the embattled leader a terrorist in the same ranks as Al-Shabaab.

The cabinet, in a majority decision early this month cited two agreements between Somalia and Ethiopia in 2015 and 2016 to transfer Qalbi Dhagah to Ethiopia. However persons who signed the documents- former Galmudug president Abdikarim Guled and former minister in the office of the President Mahad Salat have since dismissed the documents as referring to conflicts between communities in Somalia and Ethiopia.

The Senate voted last week to defer debate on the matter pending conclusion by the Lower House.