Tuesday April 19, 2022
Mogadishu (HOL) - Puntland State President Said Abdullahi Deni, accompanied by members of both houses of parliament elected in Puntland, arrived in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, on Tuesday.
The state president announced his candidacy for Somali president on March 19.
Deni arrives in Mogadishu a day after Somalia's bicameral parliament approved the timetable for the election of the house speakers. However, the presidential election date has not yet been announced.
President Deni has ignored calls from politicians for him to resign and hand over power to his deputy. Former Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke and other senior politicians from the semi-autonomous state of Puntland called on President Deni to resign as Puntland president.
At a press conference in Nairobi earlier this month, they accused the Puntland president of causing delays in Puntland's development and committing war crimes in Puntland.
Puntland Finance Minister Hassan Shire Abgal - a close friend of Deni's - emphasized that Deni would return to Puntland if he did not win the presidential election.
Said Abdullahi Deni, a former Somalia planning minister, was elected president of Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region in 2019 after receiving 35 out of 66 votes cast by regional parliamentarians in the final round.