Foundation organised fourth capacity building workshop for members of the Somali Boundaries and Federation Commission
On 12 December 2015, Foundation’s Somali Technical Advisors embedded in the Somali Boundaries and Federation Commission (BFC) delivered the fourth capacity building workshop to members of the BFC in Mogadishu, Somalia. Mr. Khalif Abdikarim Mohamed, the Chairperson of the BFC, officially opened the workshop. The workshop is part of a wider project to assist the Somali federalisation process through capacity building and technical assistance to the Ministry of Interior and Federalism Affairs (MoIFA) and the BFC. The Foundation implements the project with funding from the German Federal Foreign Office.
While the Provisional Constitution recognises Mogadishu as the capital city of the Federal Republic of Somalia, it leaves the determination of the status and autonomy of the city and its residents to the Federal Parliament. Such a law is yet to be adopted. The BFC is expected to make recommendations on the delineation of the number and boundaries of Federal Member States. The determination of the status of Mogadishu as the federal capital is therefore a crucial point to consider in the delimitation of Federal Member States in Somalia. Accordingly, the fourth Foundation workshop focused on different comparative models of regulating the status and administration of federal capital cities, the self-governing mandate of the residents of capital cities, and the representation of the residents in the national legislative process. The participants investigated the relevance of the various models to the controversial process of determining the status and administration of Mogadishu, considering specific historical and political processes in the country. It was emphasized that, while the various models may provide crucial lessons, there is no single way of organising capital cities.
Overall, so far the Foundation has organised an initial induction workshop and four thematic workshops for members of the BFC. With the successful completion of the fourth workshop, the Foundation has reached its target of organizing a total of five workshops in 2015.