Somalia’s Lower House Speaker, Sheikh Adan Madobe, has on Wednesday arrived in Baidoa, the interim administrative capital of South West State.
He was warmly received at Shaati Guduud airport by the regional State President Abdiaziz Hassan Laftagareen, Ministers, state and federal MPs from both houses, and members of the public.
The Speaker is expected to attend the ongoing consultative meeting of members of the bicameral parliament from the region that kicked off on Tuesday.
The meeting is focused on expediting the war against the Al-Shabaab militant group.
Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabab has been waging a brutal insurgency against the Somali government since 2006 in a bid to establish its own rule.
The group, despite losing grip over central Somalia, still holds command of the southern region.
The Hassan Sheikh Mohamud-led administration kicked off the second offensive against Al-Shabaab in the southern Bastions earlier this month.
Other key issues to be discussed in the meeting include the completion of Somalia’s constitution and the implementation of the National Consultative Council’s agreement in Baidoa on May 27, 2023.