Three Somaliland opposition party officials resign

Hargeysa,16july,2015(QJ/SDN)-Three top opposition party leaders in the breakaway Somaliland enclave have unexpectedly resigned amid leadership row, further unsettling the party which battles the government following a controversial term extension for the president.

The three officials announced their resignation from Wadani party on Wednesday, citing leadership dispute within the party which has challenged the government led by president Ahmed Silanyo after the region’s parliament has controversially extended his term by two additional years.

The term extension comes as the region in northern Somalia was scheduled to hold a presidential election this year.

Announcing their resignations,  the three officials including the secretary general, internal affairs secretary and youth secretary said the party’s political course was more of mix-ups than a lucid

political party, questioning the party’s political status whether it works as an opposition party or a conservative one.

Political observers often point out that the party which claims to be an opposition party is in cahoots with the government, a claim often denied by the party’s leaders.

Despite suspicions by opposition parties, Somaliland government has recently reassured public that it would hold election in July after they boycotted president’s term extension endorsed by the parliament

which drew wider criticism from the international community.

The parties then urged dissolution of the two upper houses as the result of their endorsement of the president’s term extension, accusing them of failing to perform their duties as planned.

Somaliland, a breakaway region in northern Somalia has declared a unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991; however, no country has so far recognized it as an independent state.