By: Yusuf M Hasan
DUBAI (Somalilandsun) – If unchecked the ongoing factional rift in the ruling Kulmiye party might constrain the democratization process in Somaliland.
This caution by immediate Ex-president of Somaliland Dahir Rayale Kahin at a meeting with opposition party of UCID leaders in the UAE follows a power struggle ensuing within Kulmiye following Behr’s challenge to president Silanyo’s candidature in the 2015 slated elections.
During the Dubai meeting the former president and leader of defunct UDUB party who handed power safely to sitting predecessor following defeat in the 2010 presidential elections and now lives abroad (France) was given a brief on prevailing status in Somaliland and more specifically the Kulmiye rift by top brass of the opposition party of UCID.
Rayale whose party UDUB self destroyed itself in 2012 with a similar struggle as that of Kulmiye was briefed by among others the UCID chairman Eng Feisal Ali Warabe and party presidential nominee Jamal Ali Hussein.
Dahir Rayale Kahin who assumed his 8 years tenure at the Somaliland presidency in 2002 after the death of his boss Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal is closely associated with institutionalizing the existing democratization process.
This is the first meeting since 2010 between UCID party and Ex-president Rayale who though living abroad after relinquishing power and remains inactive politically has committed to the development of Somaliland.