Somali Interim Prime Minister Hassan Abshir Farah has been hospitalized in Jeddah, according to Somali Consul General Muhammad Elmi Omer. He told Arab News on Wednesday that Farah is being treated at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSHRC). Omer said that the premier has been suffering from kidney problems. "Farah was flown here on Sunday and immediately admitted to KFSHRC with the assistance of Saudi Arabia government," Omer said. "The Saudi government has extended many similar medical services to Somali leaders in the past as well as humanitarian aid to their Somali brothers." Omer added that the health of the premier is now improving and he will soon be released from the hospital. Farah was named as prime minister by President Abdi Qassim Salad Hassan nine months ago when former Premier Ali Galaydh Khalif lost a vote of confidence in Parliament.
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About 100 people were killed and over 100 were wounded in fighting last week in the autonomous region of Puntland. According to press reports on Monday, the clashes between the rival militia of Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Jama Ali Jama have resulted in the casualties. Ahmed and Jama both claim to be the legitimate president of Puntland. The informed sources in the area said that two sides are reinforcing their militias to launch another round of skirmishes. They added that the both sides suffered heavy casualties. The reports described the fighting as the heaviest seen in the region, once the most peaceful in Somalia. The elders of the region, however, have so far failed to attempt mediation between two sides.
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Mogadishu’s Qaran newspaper on Tuesday reported that the militia loyal to the two chairmen of Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA) Sheikh Madobe and Muhammad Habsade were regrouping to recapture Baidoa town in southwestern Somalia. The militia was recently dislodged from the town after fighting against those loyal to the RRA Chairman Hassan Shatigudud. The paper said that Madobe and Habsade have received weapons and food rations, but did not indicate the source of the supplies. Shatigudud, who is in full control of Baidoa, was quoted by Radio Banadir on Sunday as saying that he has not received any military supplies from the Transitional National Government in Mogadishu, despite reports to the contrary. He urged the residents of the town who fled the fighting to return.
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Ali Muhammad I. Igal has expressed his ambition to be one of the breakaway Somaliland’s presidential candidates, Hargeisa’s Jamhuriya newspaper reported on Sunday.
He is the son of the former Somaliland President late Muhammad Ibrahim Igal, who died in South Africa in April. Somaliland is due to hold presidential elections in January.
Political parties in Somalia’s northern regions, which have ambitions to form a breakaway republic, are gearing up for the participation in the elections.
