US announces visa restrictions on Somali officials
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The US has announced visa restrictions against current or former Somali officials accused of undermining democratic processes.
It comes as the US pushes for credible elections in Somalia – which have long delayed.
In a statement, State Secretary Antony Blinken said the visa restrictions applied to people “who have failed to follow through with their obligations to implement timely and transparent elections”.
It also targets officials who have “targeted journalists and opposition party members with harassment, intimidation, arrest and violence”.
Somalia has postponed elections since the mandate of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo expired in February last year.
Indirect parliamentary elections started in November and were supposed to conclude by 24 December but have been marred by delays due to disputes.
Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble and regional state leaders reached a deal on 9 January to complete the polls by 25 February.
The US state department says the political leaders must follow through on their commitments to complete the process by the deadline.
The sanctions follow last month’s warning against further delays on the elections.
ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson
[email protected] An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.
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