Baidoa (AX) — On Monday, Ambassador James Swan, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia, sat down with South West State President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed ‘Laftagareen’ and his team. Their chat revolved around some big-ticket items like security, election prep, and the pressing humanitarian concerns.
Regional bigwigs filled in the UN envoy on safety measures being beefed up across South West State. They particularly pointed out the recent wins in Sabiid and Bariire in the Lower Shabelle region.
President Laftagareen brought Ambassador Swan up to speed on the voter registration kick-off. They’ve got some cool mobile projects in the works to make sure women, young folks, displaced persons, and communities often left out get their say.
“We also dove into the tricky topic of aiding displaced communities when humanitarian funds are barely trickling in. I assured the President that even with the global funding squeeze, the United Nations is committed to lending a hand as much as we can,” the UN statement read.
Ambassador Swan stressed the need for unity and open talks among Somalia’s political honchos and Federal Member State leaders. He acknowledged President Laftagareen’s past efforts in fostering dialogue and his potential to keep playing a positive role.
Swan underlined that the United Nations stands as a steadfast ally to both South West State and the Federal Government of Somalia. They’re in it together to push forward priorities like peace, state-building, security, humanitarian concerns, and development goals.
Somalia’s journey to a stable electoral system has been rocky, with frequent setbacks and tussles over voting models hindering democratic progress. Everyone’s calling for political players to rally behind the fresh framework to break this cycle of doubt.
Edited by: Ali Musa
alimusa@axadletimes.com
Axadle international–Monitoring
