President Muse Bihi seems to have armtwisted traditional leaders out of the presidential election talks that entered the third phase on Thursday.
A day after the president insisted that the talks be led by the speakers of the two houses, the traditional and religious leaders who have been mediating the talks were conspicuously missing.
It is now emerging that the mediation will now be led by the two Speakers of the House of Elders and the House of Representatives of Somaliland, Saleban Mohamud Aden and Abdirizak Khalif Ahmed.
The talks between Somaliland President Muse Bihi and the leaders of the three national parties Wadani and UCID is aimed at breaking the impasse over the presidential elections which the opposition insist must be held in November.
The Thursday meeting began with a joint agenda prepared by the three national parties.
The Somaliland president has insisted that the presidential election be postponed and that political parties be registered, a move the opposition is against.
The party leaders have objected the president’s proposal.
The opposition parties and the government led by Muse Bihi have been embroiled in a tense election dispute ever since the president announced his intention to postpone the presidential election.
