The East African
Wednesday March 17 2021
Summary
After decades-long regression, the country is on a political cliff where 80pc of citizens live on or below the poverty line.
Advertisement
After failing to hold elections in December last year, Somalia is tipping beyond a failed state as political statehooders plot to push President Muhammed Abdullahi Farmaajo out of office.
A report by the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies released on March 7, 2021, says Somalia has been dismally underperforming in key benchmarks of good governance namely, rule of law, government effectiveness, political stability, public participation, accountability, transparency, and control of corruption.
Somalia is thus consistently ranked as one of the world’s least transparent and the most corrupt countries, further eroding public confidence.
The East African
Monday February 15 2021
Somalia under Farmaajo faced some challenges but it progressed on crucial economic fronts, halving its debts to about $5.3 billion. PHOTO | FILE
Summary
The United States and the European Union, two of Mogadishu’s biggest state-rebuilding donors, warn that an impasse could slow down its recovery.
Advertisement
Somalia is under pressure to hold elections and put the country on track to economic recovery, a peaceful political transition and save it from uncertainties that would embolden al Shabaab.
Mogadishu was a subject of emergency meetings both at the African Union Peace and Security Council and the UN Security Council this past week, where it was agreed that leaders must find consensus and address crucial sticking points, with a warning against “parallel” processes that will not attract universal support.
The East African
Monday February 15 2021
Women protest against the Somali President Mohamed Abdulahi Farmaajo in Mogadishu on December 15, 2020, over interference in electoral process. PHOTO | FILE | NMG
Advertisement
Apprehension is building over the future of Somalia, after a missed presidential election on February 8. A three-day meeting between the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), and the five Federal Member States of Somalia (FMS), to try to stave off a constitutional crisis earlier this month, did not yield tangible outcome beyond an agreement to defer talks to February 15.
Considering the fragile situation in the country, the fears are not unfounded. But focusing attention exclusively on interclan tensions, the international and regional community might be missing a point. Somalia is in peril, but the solution is not in Mogadishu.