Saturday August 26, 2023
Dhusamareb (HOL) - Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud opened the National Consultative Council meeting in Dhusamareb, the administrative capital of the Galmudug state, on Saturday.
The country's federal and the four regional state leaders are convening to discuss the security situation, the completion of liberation operations, the stabilization of recently liberated areas, and the delivery of essential services to the communities in those regions.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has been leading the war campaign in Galmudug state in central Somalia for the last two weeks. On Friday, Somalia's army, alongside security forces from the country's central Galmudug region, captured the historic district of Elbur, about 400 kilometres (249 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu, shortly after al-Shabab militants hastily fled the district.
The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Hamse Abdi Barre, Deputy Prime Minister Salah Ahmed Jama, the President of Galmudug Ahmed Abdi Kariye (Qorqor), the President of Jubbaland Ahmed Mohamed Islam, the President of South West Abdizais Hassan Mohamed (Lafta-gareen), the President of Hirshabelle Ali Abdullahi Hussein (Ali Gudlawe) and the Governor of Benadir Yusuf Hussein Jimale Maddale.
However, Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni is absent from the conference. In a statement released on January 9, Puntland announced that it is "now acting as an independent government," accusing the federal government of attempting to restore a centralized federal government.