Somalia President Mohamed Farmaajo has visited strong ally Qatar even as the election programme back home faces another possible stall.

Farmaajo flew to Doha on Monday, accompanied by First Lady Zeinab Abdi Moalim, the new Foreign Minister Abdisaid Muse Ali and Sports Minister Hamza Said Hamza, alongside the chairman of Somalia’s Football Federation, Abdigani Said Arab.

He met with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani, with whom he enjoys close ties as Doha has become one of Somalia’s biggest donors.

Farmaajo said talks had focused on “strengthening brotherly relations and bilateral cooperation between our two countries in a way that enhances strong ties and fruitful cooperation”.

But if the trip was about boosting his ties, it may also have offered a temporary escape out of simmering chaos in local politics. The country was supposed to be conducting indirect elections for the Lower House, part of a bicameral Parliament that also includes the Senate, and which together sit to vote for the next President.

His rivals, under the caucus of the Council of Presidential Candidates, announced they were pulling out of the parliamentary elections, which they said had been rigged.

“The Council of Presidential Candidates will never accept this rigged election,” argued Abdishakur Abdirahman, a member of the group and leader of the Wadajir party.

“The Council’s consultative meetings among its members, the meetings they will hold with the PM and other stakeholders will focus on every means that would achieve the conduct of free and fair elections.”

It was unclear what impact their withdrawal will have, especially since none of the members were contesting the Lower House seats, but could rely on the outcomes to vet their own chances at the presidency.

Source: Nation