Hiiraan Online
Friday November 11, 2016
Puntland, Gal-Mudug leaders.
The presidents of Galmudug and Puntland state, Abdikarim Hussein Guled and Abdiwali Mohamed Ali Gas headed for Galkayo for possible negotiations on ceasefire , officials said.
Each is coming from a different direction and the two leaders are set to meet to find a way out to bury the hatchet and foster a peace deal in the troubled city. The delegation of Galmudug president is said to have left Adado towards the troubled city.
On the other hand, a plane carrying president Gaas from Garowe touched down in Galkayo’s main airport on Friday.
The two regional state officials are anticipated to meet at Galkayo airport and discuss ways and means to bring the hostility in the town to an end. Presiding over the meeting will be UN officials and officials from the federal government of Somalia.
This meeting was the upshot of a recent meeting in Bossaso between the president of Puntland and the UN Special Envoy to Somalia Michael Keating who advised the two presidents to meet in Galkayo for a durable solution on the recurrent hostilities between the two neighboring regional states.
However this is not the first time the two presidents meet. Earlier this month, they have met in Dubai for the same concern and an agreement to stop the fighting brokered by the UAE government was hatched despite the fact that it was disturbed by the escalation of clashes in the town.
Dozens of the warring troops and increased number of civilians are believed to have died there in renewed clashed earlier this week.
UN estimates that the recent clashes in Galkayo displaced about 80 per cent of the town's population.