UN head James Swan arrives in Kismayo for final electoral talks with FMS leaders

The head of UN in Somalia James Swan arrived in the coastal city of Kismayo Sunday in his last round of Federal Member States tours where he is expected to secure a deal with president Ahmed Madobe on the upcoming elections amid fears of poll delays and instability.

Swan who has since been to Puntland, South West, Galmudug and HirShabelle will be seeking to flesh out remaining concerns by Madobe after he successfully convinced him and his Puntland counterpart Abdullahi Deni this past week to vacate their stance against elections.

The two state leaders had demanded Farmaajo pulls out troops from Gedo as a precondition for participating in the elections but the president has turned a deaf ear to the demand.

Today’s meeting comes a day after representatives of the international community met with Farmaajo ion Mogadishu.

The president assured elections will be fair and subsequently announced two days meeting with FMS leaders in Dhusamareb starting today.