The security of Jowhar city has been beefed up ahead of the Hiran and middle Shabelle regional state formation process.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and other top government Somali leaders have addressed the opening ceremony of the meeting.
President Mohamud has urged the technical community involved in the state building process to speed up the formation, saying the residents of the two provinces are desperate for administration and governance.
“I want to assure the full support of the federal government in support of the formation of this regional state administration†he said.
Elders and local leaders present at the meeting have also promised there support for the formation process.
However some tribal leaders in Hiran have raised their concern about the meeting saying they have grievance which was not addressed adequately by the technical committee and central government.