Somalia President, PM Agree to 'Accelerate' Election Process

• 

Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble agreed to speed up the process for long-delayed elections, putting an end to the issue that put Somalia on the verge of crisis.

Both leaders had been engaged in a battle over who should replace the director of the intelligence service following his suspension over his handling of a high-profile probe into the disappearance of a young intelligence agent. 

However, they both issued a joint statement Thursday, in which they said they had "agreed to accelerate the election process by calling on the federal member states to start the election of the (lower house of) parliament in the next couple of weeks."

The agreement also stipulated that the figure chosen by President Mohamed fills the position of director of the intelligence services, while the figure chosen by Prime Minister Roble serves as a minister in the government.

The spokesman for the Somalian government announced that a separate disagreement over the Ministry of Interior had been solved as well.

The Somalian authorities had scheduled October 10 for the presidential elections; however, the dispute between the president and the prime minister prevented this from happening.

The disagreement between the leaders occurred in April when the president extended his four-year term for another two years, leading the military factions in support of either leader to take over the other party's locations in Mogadishu. That prompted violent confrontations that threatened security in the country.

Somalia enjoys limited central governance after the overthrow of the dictatorship that ruled the African country for 30 years; however, it never held free elections.