SOMALILAND:UDUB NOMINATED ITS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES IN A MANNER THAT DIVIDED THE PARTY.

HARGEISA, Somalia Feb 4 (Gargaar) - The president of Somaliland has won the ruling party's nomination to run for president on March 29, but many party insiders have condemned the process. Waheen and Horyal Radios report. President Dahir Riyale and Vice-President Ahmed Yusuf Yasin were present at Hotel Mansor in Hargeisa, the regional capital, where hundreds of congregants gathered for the UDUB party convention to nominate candidates for the upcoming election. Mr. Riyale and Mr. Yasin won an uncontested nomination, drawing loud disagreement from critics inside UDUB party, including ex-interior minister Ismail Adan Osman, who stormed out of the building. Somaliland media reported that he later accused President Riyale of "hijacking" the conference and "quieting voices" within the ruling party. Meanwhile, a group of UDUB dissidents led by ex-health minister Abdullahi Hussein Darawal told a Wednesday press conference at Hargeisa's Imperial Hotel that the government is "exerting pressure" on hotel owners to discourage them from hosting a rival UDUB conference. Darawal leads a faction that wants to hold a competitive political race within the UDUB party to win the party's nomination. The two opposition parties with seats in the Somaliland parliament – Kulmiye and UCID – forwarded party leaders Ahmed Silanyo and Faisal Ali Warabe, respectively, as presidential candidates. The candidate list for the March 29 election is similar to the 2003 election, whereby Riyale defeated Silanyo by a small margin and Warabe was a distant third. This time around, Mr. Silanyo and his Kulmiye party are favored to win as the party of change after nearly six years of corruption and favoritism under Riyale. Somaliland unilaterally declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991 but the region is not recognized internationally.

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