Riyale Forced To Talk With The Opposition But Unwilling To Accept He Is No Longer President

Hargeysa, Somaliland, May 17, 2008 (SL Times) – A dangerous confrontation between the opposition and the Somaliland government was averted on Thursday thanks to a last minute initiative by the leaders of the opposition to invite the government for talks aimed at resolving Somaliland’s current political crisis which started unraveling when the Guurti unilaterally decided on April 10, 2008 to extend the tenure of the country’s president Dahir Riyale for one year.

This controversial decision by the Guurti was meant to forego the expiry of Riyale’s 5-year term in office on May 15 (Thursday). However the extension was soon declared illegal by the opposition parties who one day earlier (April 9) signed an agreement with the ruling UDUB party and the National Electoral Commission rescheduling dates for the presidential and local council elections on October 7 and December 31, 2008.

But only hours before his term in office came to an end on Mid-night Thursday, Riyale accepted a suggestion by the opposition to negotiate a way out of the political impasse with KULMIYE party leader Ahmed Sillanyo and chairman of UCID party Faisal Ali Warabe.

The two opposition party leaders met with Riyale in the Presidency on Wednesday evening. The three men met again on Thursday.

The only information that has so far come out of these meetings was that the opposition agreed to a suggestion by Riyale that the talks resume on May 19.

The two issues expected to dominate the discussions will be reaching an agreement on time-line for the elections and who should run the country from now until the next presidential elections and exactly how.

However the Somaliland Times has learnt that Riyale is unwilling to accept that legally he is no longer the president of the country.

Riyale has in the past been accused of trying to delay the presidential election for the sake of enabling him to remain in power as long as possible.

Long-time observers of Riyale say that he is unlikely to comprise on the dispute over the Guurti’s extension of his term and with his tendency to betray agreements, analysts believe that Riyale is playing for delaying-tactics and that the political crisis is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.

Source: Somaliland Times