Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas said that the elders’ conference in Mogadishu is continuing as planned and that the delays are not due to disagreement between Puntland and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Radio Garowe reports.
Last week the Puntland government released a response on the Somalia draft constiutuion requesting that the draft constitution be revised and amended. Prime Minister Gaas who spoke to Universal TV on Wednesday said that the Puntland government is entitled to express questions and constraints about the draft constitution.“Of course as a federal state and a very important region in Somalia, they have the right to request amendments or revision of certain articles they have an issue with,” said Prime Minister Gaas.
Contrary to what some news agencies in Somalia are saying, Abdirahman Omar Osman (Yarisow) spokesman for the TFG said Wednesday that the elders’ conference in Mogadishu has delayed but Puntland’s concerns with the Somalia draft constitution are not the cause of setback.
“There isn’t a disagreement or misunderstanding between the Puntland government and the TFG,” adding, “There are operational issues that have delayed the meeting and the government is currently working on those issues and we expect the conference to continue as planned,” said spokesman Yarisow.
The elders’ conference in Mogadishu was supposed to wrap up on Tuesday with 135 elders choosing a National Constituent Assembly (NCA), but operational setbacks have caused a delay the ever important constitution adoption process
