Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud visited Kismayo on Tuesday (September 16) to attend the opening of a reconciliation conference for the communities in the Gedo, Middle Jubba and Lower Jubba regions, Somalia’s RBC Radio reported.
Interim Jubba Administration (IJA) President Ahmed Mohamed Islam Madobe and senior IJA officials welcomed Mohamud and his delegation at the airport.
African Union Mission in Somalia and IJA forces have stepped up the security in Kismayo and businesses remained closed.
Representatives from the United Nations and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development will participate in the conference.
Meanwhile, militia leader Barre Adam Shire Hirale, who agreed to engage in dialogue with IJA leaders late last month, has boycotted the reconciliation conference, according to Goobjoog News.
Abdi Shire Warsame, a representative of Hirale, said the conference had been postponed and called the one that opened on Tuesday as an attempt to confuse the communities in the region.
Source: SabhaiOnline
