Puntland leader Saeed Abdullahi Deni has established a seven-member committee to help resolve a row over regional presidential and parliamentary elections slated for early 2024.
Headed by Puntland interior minister Abdi Farah Juha, the committee is tasked with bringing together the regional administration and the opposition to agree on the timing and modality of the polls.
Deni plans to organise Puntland’s first-ever direct elections on February 25 next year.
Oposition groups want the elections to be indirect and held on January 8, 2024.
The row has raised fears of violence in the relatively peaceful Puntland regional state of northeastern Somalia.
Several people were killed earlier this year when gunfire erupted between rival security forces over the dispute.
Deni, picked by Puntland’s parliament in 2019, is the state’s sixth president.
He is a former minister of planning and federal member of parliament.
