African Union Chairperson calls for utmost restraint in Somalia

Addis Ababa, Dec 31 (IANS) The Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has expressed concern over the ongoing political tension in Somalia.

The Chairperson of the pan-African bloc "is following with deep concern the serious current political tension in Somalia," an AU statement said on Thursday.

Mahamat called for utmost restraint as he emphasised for continued engagements and dialogue between the country's President and Prime Minister in order to find a political solution to this present situation, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The African Union recommits to scale up it's support towards durable peace and stable polity in Somalia," he said.

Amid the growing political tensions in the Horn of Africa country, the Somali President Mohamed Farmajo had on Monday suspended Prime Minister Mohamed Roble over corruption allegations.

Farmajo accused Roble of being involved in corruption and misuse of public lands in a statement, which came a day after he accused the latter of failing to steer the electoral process to a successful conclusion.

Analysts say the current political rift between the two top leaders will again delay the electoral process slated to conclude by early 2022.

Parliamentary elections which began on November 1 have already been suspended after only 24 out of 275 lawmakers have been elected.

The country's electoral body had set December 24 as the deadline for the completion of the parliamentary elections.