The Speakers of Somalia’s Upper and Lower House have agreed to postpone Monday’s joint-parliamentary session at Villa Hargeisa due to the ongoing Al-Shabaab raid at the nearby Villa Rose hotel.
The postponed meeting’s agenda included the first reading of the national budget for the fiscal year 2023.
The People’s Assembly Speaker, Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nur Madobe, and the Upper House Speaker, Abdi Hashi Abdullahi, did not officially explain the reason for the postponement, but it is likely due to the nearly 12-hour siege at the Villa Rose hotel, which is less than 1.5 kilometres from where the joint session would be held.
At least ten people were killed in the attack, which began at around 8 PM on Sunday with twin suicide blasts before gunmen stormed the hotel gates.
A police spokesman said that dozens of people were rescued from the hotel but specialized security forces are still battling militants inside the complex as of Monday morning.
Witnesses said that senior government officials were inside Villa Rose when the militants stormed the hotel.
Somalia’s federal Minister of Security, Mohamed Ahmed Doodishe, was among those injured in the attack as was Abdullahi Bashir, a former official at the Ministry of Finance.
The parliamentary leadership is expected to announce a new date for the session.
Somalia’s cabinet approved the proposed budget of nearly $1 billion USD in mid-November.
The $967.7 million national budget will be raised through domestic revenue and international grants, with domestic revenue expected to be $283.3 million in 2023, an increase of $36.3 million from this year.
