MOGADISHU — The Somali Future Council (SFC) has called on the United Nations to convene new talks between Somalia’s Federal Government and opposition groups over the country’s disputed electoral process.
SFC Secretary-General Abdullahi Abubakar Haji told Dawan Media that the proposed negotiations should bring the federal government and the opposition to the table on equal terms, with the United Nations playing a central role in facilitating the process.
The council is also asking for an international mediator and guarantor to support any agreement reached between the Somali parties. Under the proposal, the guarantor would be supported by a monitoring mechanism and defined consequences for failure to implement the agreement.
The SFC says previous internationally facilitated efforts have failed to produce a lasting political settlement. The council’s latest appeal comes ahead of a scheduled UN Security Council review of Somalia in October.
The opposition coalition has also called for an inclusive political dialogue covering transitional arrangements and the electoral framework, arguing that both sides should participate as equal negotiating parties.
The demand comes amid continuing disagreements between the federal government and opposition groups over Somalia’s electoral system, constitutional arrangements and the country’s political transition.
The African Union has previously urged the federal government and the Somali Future Council to resume inclusive political dialogue and seek compromise following negotiations in Mogadishu that ended without consensus.
The SFC has also proposed a transitional direct-election model, which it says could combine direct voting with the existing 4.5 power-sharing system during a transitional period.
Neither the Federal Government of Somalia nor the United Nations had publicly responded to the council’s latest request at the time of the report’s publication.
