Outgoing Somali president held a closed-door meeting with Foreign Diplomats

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The outgoing Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo convened a closed-door meeting with foreign diplomats on Saturday at the Afisyonie tent in the Mogadishu airport facility. 

Sources close to Villa Somalia said Farmajo went to the venue early in the morning to hold talks with the international partners, five days after the Lower House of parliament extended his mandate by two years, a move that Senate rejected as unconstitutional. 

Garowe Online sources revealed that the foreign diplomats are making last-ditch efforts to convince Farmajo to return to the talks between the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and Federal Member States (FMS).

Farmajo requested the meeting with the partners at Afisyoni after learning that they have a planned summit in Halane to issue a joint response to the term extension and current situation in Somalia.

The diplomats believe that the rival of the talks will provide the best solution for solving the prolonged election impasse in Somalia after the country failed to go to the ballot twice since December 2020. 

First, the country was scheduled to hold parliamentary polls in December 2020 to pick new parliament that was expected to elect a president, but all didn't happen due to the endless standoff. 

The country's goal for an inclusive and peaceful election flopped with Farmajo’s first four-year term as the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia expired in February 2021.

Now, Somalia is facing its worst political crisis following the Lower House vote to illegally extend Farmajo's previous mandate and the international community is warning the move could plunge the country into a conflict. 

GAROWE ONLINE