International partners* welcome the announcement that Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and Federal Member State (FMS) leaders will meet on 15 February to finalise arrangements for implementing the 17 September election agreement, building on progress made during the recent Dhusamareb Forum.
International partners do not believe that the question of the location justifies any delay to this critically important summit. We urge the Federal Government and Federal Member State leaders, in a constructive spirit, to resolve the small number of issues outstanding from the Dhusamareb talks and agree to a short election timeline necessary to implement the 17 September Agreement.
We believe it is vital that the discussions initiated in Dhusamareb be brought quickly to a successful conclusion in this next round of dialogue. We encourage the FGS and FMS leaders attending the summit to engage in frequent communication and consultation with other Somali stakeholders to inform the deliberations.
Now is the time to avoid unilateral actions and proceed quickly to agree on the implementation of the 17 September electoral process to choose Somalia’s leaders.
* African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, European Union (EU), Finland, France, Germany, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Ireland, Italy, Japan, League of Arab States (LAS), Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, and the United Nations.
