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The purpose of the trip of these officials is to observe the situation of the people in Bardale district and how to carry out operations against the Al-Shabaab Organization.

The UN team's visit comes a day after an Al-Shabaab suicide bomber killed the justice minister of the regional state and his son outside a mosque shortly after the Friday prayers.

Lafta-Garen was elected in December 2018 following a deadly protest in Baidoa over the arrest of Mukhtar Robow, the former deputy Al-Shabaab leader who was running for the regional presidency.

FEIT has set April 14 as the date for the inauguration of the 11th Somali parliament in the capital as more than 20 Lower House seats are pending, including 16 in Garbaharey town which is the most disputed.

Lafta-Garen, who is a close ally of Farmajo said FEIT boss Muse Gelle has no idea the statement posted on the FIET’s Facebook page, announcing the suspension of the seats.

In a statement, the regional presidency described the move as 'illegal and unacceptable', adding it clearly violated the consensus reached by the National Consultative Forum [NCF] on the election.

Somalia’s political leaders are under a pressure to accelerate parliamentary elections following the US imposition of a travel ban last month. The vote is slated to end on Feb 25 and extended to mid this month.

Farmajo has been backing Abdiaziz Lafta-Garen who served as public works minister in his government which committed the massacre of 11 protesters in Baidoa during a pro-Robow demonstration in Dec 2018.