President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has organized a big meeting called the National Consultative Council (NCC) summit for leaders from different parts of Somalia. It’s happening on April 21-22 in Mogadishu, the capital city. They’ll talk about important things concerning the whole country.
Leaders from different areas of Somalia, like Puntland, Jubbaland, South West, Galmudug, and HirShabelle, got invitations to the summit. The Mayor of Mogadishu, who’s also the Governor of the Benadir Regional Administration, was invited too.
During the meeting, they’ll discuss how to fight terrorism and finish making Somalia’s constitution. These topics were highlighted in the letters the president sent out, setting the tone for the summit.
It’s not certain if Puntland’s President, Said Abdullahi Deni, will come because there are some tensions between his region and the federal government. These tensions started after President Mohamud made some changes to the constitution recently, and Puntland didn’t agree with them.
On March 30, Somalia’s national parliament approved changes to the first four parts of the constitution, and President Mohamud agreed with them the next day. These changes give more power to the president and aim to have everyone in Somalia vote directly for their leaders in the next elections. But Puntland didn’t like these changes and stopped recognizing the federal government. They said they’ll work separately until everyone agrees on these changes in a national vote.
It’s also not clear if leaders from SSC-Khatumo will join because they didn’t get official invitations. They’ve been trying to get their area recognized as an official part of Somalia.
