Interior minister heads to Beletweyne as elders boycott state formation process
Interior Minister Abdirahman Mohamed Hussein Odawa and his Petroleum counterpart Muktar Obrahim have headed to Beleyweyne to meet with elders in the region days after elders from Middle Shabellle and Hiiraan unanimously declared they were boycotting the state formation process in Jowhar.
The leaders last week held a meeting in Jowhar in which they declared their move was motivated by government’s failure to hid their call for neutrality in the process.
The elders accused the government of unfair distribution of clan delegates and ‘ignoring the value and respect of both regional clan elders’.
“We the clan elders of Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle, have come together today, 7th March, 2016, and decided collectively to boycott the above mentioned conference,” read the statement in part.
The Hiiraan/Middle Shabelle state formation conference collapsed last month after elders and government failed to reach consensus on the composition of the delegates.