Somali opposition alliance accepts invitation to Mogadishu conference on elections
The decision was announced Saturday following a meeting of the council in Nairobi.
Mogadishu, Somalia (Somali Report) — Somalia’s main opposition alliance, the Somali Future Council, has agreed in principle to attend a federal government–led conference in Mogadishu to resolve the country’s political and electoral impasse.
The decision was announced Saturday following a meeting of the council in Nairobi. In a statement, the opposition group said it accepted the government’s invitation but urged President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to take concrete steps to create what it described as goodwill and confidence ahead of the talks.
The opposition demanded an immediate halt to any changes to Somalia’s 2012 Provisional Constitution. The council also said the conference agenda must focus strictly on what it called the country’s most urgent priorities: national security, particularly the fight against al-Shabab and the Islamic State group; reaching consensus on an agreed electoral model for upcoming federal elections; preserving national unity and solidarity; and addressing the worsening drought across Somalia.
The federal government has said the conference is intended to strengthen national unity and social cohesion, promote a democratic process based on consultation and compromise, and ensure that public voices are central to shaping Somalia’s political future.
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The talks come as Somalia faces mounting pressure both domestically and from international partners to agree on an election framework as current political mandates approach their end. Diplomats and Somali analysts have warned that failure to reach consensus risks reopening political rifts, undermining recent security gains and stalling broader state-building efforts.
On Friday, the United Nations Transitional Assistance Mission in Somalia, along with the European Union and the United Kingdom, welcomed the federal government’s decision to convene a national consultative forum and formally invite the Somali Future Council, calling the move a positive step amid rising tensions over the electoral timeline.
The conference is expected to draw key political figures, including the presidents of Jubbaland and Puntland, two federal member states whose relations with President Mohamud’s administration have been strained.
Sources said both leaders have demanded firm security guarantees before traveling to Mogadishu and are expected to arrive with heavily armed security details.
Somalia has struggled for years to transition from an indirect, clan-based electoral system to a more inclusive process, with repeated delays fueling political mistrust. Whether the planned Mogadishu conference can bridge the divide between the federal government, regional leaders and opposition groups may prove decisive for the country’s political stability in the months ahead.
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