Somalia’s deputy speaker Abdiweli Mudey says he has been barred from travelling to Barawe town to seek a seat in the country’s next parliament.
Mudey, a long-time ally of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmanjo, told local media he was stopped from boarding a plane in Mogadishu on the orders of the South-West state regional administration.
Barawe is in South-West state.
But the privately-owned Hiiran Online news portal said that “the order to prevent Mr Mudey from travelling was reportedly issued by Fahad Yasin”, President Farmajo’s security adviser.
Neither Yasin nor the South-West state administration have commented on the accusations.
The development comes as a February 25 deadline looms for the completion of long-delayed legislative elections.
Last week, the US announced visa restrictions on unnamed Somali politicians it accused of “undermining the democratic process in Somalia”.
Leave a Reply