US presses Somalia to hold elections immediately

Secretary of State Antony Blinken calls on Somali leaders to hold ‘transparent and inclusive elections’.

The United States called on Somalia on Friday to hold elections right away and end a deadlock that Washington says is threatening the strife-torn Horn of Africa country. Somalia missed a deadline to hold an election by February 8 when President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known by his nickname Farmaajo, was due to step down, sparking a constitutional crisis in the already-fragile state. A coalition of opposition candidates now considers the president to be illegitimate and wants him to resign.