>> this is al jazeera and these are top stories. u.s. president joe biden calls on russia to de-escalate tensions and cyber attacks. bided insists there is room for the countries to work together. >> i was clear with president putin that we could have gone further, but i chose to be proportionate. the u.s. is not looking to kick off a cycle of escalation and conflict with russia. we want a stable, predictable

relationship. if russia continues to interfere with our democracy, i am prepared to take further action to respond. it is my responsibility to do so. >> the former policeman accused of murdering george floyd has decided not to testify at his trial. derek chauvin invoked the fifth amendment right to remain silent. closing arguments and jury deliberation are expected monday. the policewoman who fatally shot a young black man in minnesota is in court for the first time. 20-year-old dauhnte wright was shot sunday after a traffic violation. police say officer kim potter shot him accidentally, accidentally drawing her gun instead of her taser. she is charged with manslaughter and released on bail a day after turning in her badge. officials released body cam footage of a chicago police officer fatally shooting a 13-year-old boy last month. it shows an unidentified officer running after adam toledo in an

alley in the early hours of a morning. the teenager appeared to raise his hands before the shot was fired. brazil's supreme court confirmed its decision to an all criminal convictions against former president lulu da silva. last month, the court revealed he was not treated fairly. he is now eligible to run next year and the election against current president gyre bolsonaro -- jair also narrow. france's death toll from coronavirus has surpassed 100,000. it now has a national lockdown. the country is ramping up the vaccine rollout and on saturday, jabs will be available for many workers aged over 55. those are headlines. i will have another update right after inside story, coming up next. we will see you then. goodbye for now. ♪

>> two more years. somalia's president defies global pressure and extends his mandate. will it undermine elections or strengthen them? how will regional and international players react. this is "inse story." ♪ host: hello and welcome to the show. this emollient president has signed a controversial law extending his mandate for two years. mohamedi abdullahi mohamed's

four-year term expired in february but on monday, the lower house of our lemon voted to extend the decision threatens to further divide the nation and worsen his political crisis. the african union, eu and united nations say they won't support the extension. mohamed previously reached an agreement with the leaders of five federal states to prepare for elections in eight 2020 and early 2021. but that deal collapsed after groups failed to agree on how to conduct the vote. many now fear the instability will embolden the armed group c/z al-shabab, which for years has been trying to topple the government. catherine sawyer has more from nairobi in neighboring kenya. reporter: critics say the decision to extend the government for two years is problematic on so many levels.

it has faced rejection by the senate and leaders of two of the five regional states. we are also seeing strongly-worded statements from some somalia's key donors, the u.s., eu and u.k. speaking in one town, saying if this doesn't change, they are going to rethink how they do business with the government of somalia. they are also talking about they also say they want stakeholders in the electoral process to go back to the drawing board, resume talks and go back to an agreement made last september on holding an election as soon as possible. but then, talks on how to conduct the election have failed and the president and his allies have blamed leaders from two-state -- from two states as being a hindrance to the electoral process. the president and his supporters

say this extension is crucial because the country cannot be in a vacuum for too long. host: for decades, somalia has been at the center of civil war, famine and unrest. it began to fall apart in 1991 when warlords ousted the president and then turned on each other. attempts at peace or several interim regimes were between 1991 and 2000. a transitional federal government established in 2004 took control of most areas from the islamic courts union, icu. it then splintered though, and it's armed wing al-shabab began to fight government forces and their peacekeeping allies. the government still controls large parts of southern and central somalia. a new provisional constitution was passed in august 2012. it reformed somalia into a federation of five states per five years later, -- federation

of five states. five years later, the president was elected despite threats from al-shabab. ♪ let's wring our guests to the shell. we have guests in mont -- mogadishu, a member of parliament and former minister of information. in toronto, we have an aid and development expert, indo hall, an associate professor of security studies at qatar university. welcome to you all. if i could start with zachariah in mogadishu, zachariah, is the move by the president to extend his mandate legitimate? >> i think you must read the whole situation. there is no president to extend his mandate for two years. it is the parliament. host: but he did approve the lower house of parliament's decision. >> can i finish?

we don't have a lower house. we call it the people's house. the parliament decided to end the stalemate the country has experienced for eight months because of the bickering between eight people from the regional and central government that cannot decide the fate of the country to go to what they call indirect elections. i don't call it elections, bunch of tribal members select members of government. the institutions face a tribal tater ship of tribal selection. so we don't want to be part of

this type of selection and go forward with a system of giving people their power back to select their representatives. this is what happened. and there is no two years. we said the maximum time to hold an election is two years. if the national committee of elections, if they say within two months we will call the election, fine. no problem. that is how you represent representatives -- that is how you will act representatives of the public all over the world. host: you heard allegations repeated by president mohamed, he wants to reform the electoral

process so that it is basically one man, one vote, direct elections, rather than the current system which zachariah describes as a mess of endorsing the power of the dictatorship, of clients. >> -- of clans. >> thank you for having me. good morning. i concur with zachariah on the need to have one person one vote . however, countries are governed by rules of law and constitutions. what transpired this week, passing this legislation through the people's house really is a violation of the current constitution somalia has. to pass such legislation, you need to people's house and also the senate agreeing to pass the legislation. we need to be careful as we find a way forward that we are

actually respecting the current rules and regulations that we have and are abiding by constitutional processes. it is unfortunate that, right now, we are facing this division within the country, not just from the government, but also from regional governments. they have been part of the problem. host: let me jump in. you raised a great point and i will take that briefly back to zachariah and get his reaction. zachariah, this was not a legitimate move because it was only approved by one of the houses of parliament, the people's house, rather than including the senate too. how do you respond? >> this is also misleading. the senate, which is new to somalia, this is the first time we have a senate actually, the

senate has to guidelines -- cast -- has two guidelines, things that we do and things that we can do together, things we can do together and separate. most laws we pass in the people's house of parliament -- some categories of the law, we represent the people. the senate represents the five regions of somalia. if the concern comes to those federated states, then they have to be in the picture. but this is not something concerning to the senate, or the states, the members of the

somalia government. this is a national issue. host: let me give our guest a chance to come back on that. -- back on that. hodan, you are misreading the constitution according to zachariah command the senate does not need to be involved. hodan: it is not -- i am not a constitutional expert, but it is clear you need both houses of parliament passed legislation. but the mandate of the current parliament has expired. the mandate of the current president has expired. these are facts. in order for us to have a healthy way forward, it is imperative that the country comes together and degrees upon a process, not a process that is seen as a legitimate. -- as illegitimate.

whether you accept it or not, a large section of the country opposes the move. what we want is to get to one person, one vote. that has to come from an acceptable, legitimate process that goes through due process. in the end, nations are governed by both, and we can't jumpstart when we want to get ahead with a certain perspective. these are the facts on the ground. the president has actually signed the legislation. you have an entire section of the population in the federal state [indiscernible] host: let me, if i may, jump in. you have made that point.

let me bring in our next guest from doha. i think most people would probably agree with what hodan is saying, that all parties agree there does need to be reform if she would like, as i am sure many somalis would like to see, that it be done in a way that has the support of most people. but at the end of the day, that was precisely the problem, that the parties could not agree on how to reform the electoral process, how to hold elections. was there any real alternative but to extend the mandate of the president and let parliament run overtime? >> thank you, sam. i agree with hodan on this issue that the position by the house of the people is illegitimate and a power grab. they had for years to conduct elections.

they failed. they also have another venue that if they can't organize an election, they need to go back and reach some sort of political agreement. these are the only two ways. what we have right now is that one of the two chambers decided -- and by the way, both of them, their term has expired. one of the two chambers under the president want make some sort of power grab and extend their term illegally. this is unacceptable. there is no legal basis of extension in the constitution. but there is a more important point here. host: how would they hold elections, either for the president and also renew the parliament, if they simply can't agree on how to hold elections? >> well, based on my information

on the last talks and also talks prior to this one, the decision was within reach of the government actually stepped out, simply because they wanted to get their own results. and if they don't get it they just want to stage manage some sort of extension. that is what happened. it is not about the legality of the decision taken here, it is about the consequences of such a decision. we are talking about a very fragile state, and such a reckless decision actually threatens the nascent democracy and the stability and unity of the country. this should not be allowed at all and should be rejected in every account.

this is unacceptable. host: let me bring in zachary a response to that. regardless of the question of legitimacy and whether the president had a right to approve this vote coming from the people's house, putting that aside, what do you make of the argument, that is supported by think by many somalis, that if you don't have the support of enough of the somali people, you are undermining the institutions of the country, and it's very stability if not enough people are on board. >> gentlemen, we have passed the days where a few people nominate themselves in somalia. the past 30 years have been under tribal dictatorship and tribal logic.

somalia needs to change and move forward as a 21st-century state. what we have done is against the constitution. it is not legitimate. that is what most of the people believe. the parliament represents -- host: if enough of the people are not on board, clearly there are not enough people on board if we are hearing a lot of disagreement somalis. >> you have no right to say that, because you have no contact with the people. you haven't done any selection or election or whatever with the somali people. host: i didn't say that and i don't need to talk to all the people from know that from reports. there are somalis and i didn't claim the majority.

you don't think this move would be conducive to stability, do you? are you telling viewers all somalis support the decision of the president? >> are you asking me a question? host: you have misrepresented the idea that enough pple are on board. >> you are undermining the statement of the somali people. what is undermining somalia is tribal selection and the legitimacy of the government. there are only two in somalia, the president and prime minister. we are not playing this anymore, what we are playing now is a democratic path. we have to lead somalia down a democratic path. they say the term is finished,

that is right, the term is finished, but there is no other parliament. those who advocate this frame, they are advocating a chaotic system. show we say, the offices are empty, now, it doesn't -- no, it doesn't work like that. we have to constitute a way for the country to go back to a right election, and then we go. but [indiscernible] they say our time is up and we are going out. that is not the way it works. host: let me bring our next

guest to the discussion. how important a determinant are elections of power in a society like somalia where, in any case, it sms clans hold power in a country dominated by foreign powers, many would argue? >> in the last 20 years, we had one component of democracy, which is the rotation of power. it happened through special dispensations either through plan groups -- clan groups or some acceptance that is informal by stakeholders. that is what we had. at the moment, that is under threat because the redeemed that is incumbent and does not want to organize an inclusive election, or just go through normal political dispensation process and wants to extend itself.

this is unacceptable. let me remind you, when a president disagreed on the way things were progressing, he decided to step down. he said i disagree what is going -- disagree with what is going on, and he left power. two other presidents faced a go back and negotiate with the stakeholders from other places so that they come to some acceptable conclusion. what we expected from another president was -- what we expected from president mohamedi abdullahi mohamed was to have some sort of election and if he can't, he has to go back and negotiate and compromise and get a deal. a compromise doesn't mean he just gets his way. host: let me bring inf hodan.

it is not a controversial question only within somalia, it is a controversial question for powers that have interests in support somalia. do you think the president will be able to withstand the disapproval of powers like the u.n. and u.s., which the country relies on for a lot of aid? >> absolutely. i work in the development sector and know that quite well. 70% of somalians live on less than two dollars a day. the vast majority of somalis need political stability and not jostling over who is in power or not. the political situation in somalia today is white precarious and we can't afford to go back. i urge all sides to have this caution and ensure that dialogue

and resumption of talks is prioritized rather than empty rhetoric and smokescreens about what the people want. the people want a legitimate process that is inclusive, that funnels the current structures and regulations and rules that we have abiding by the constitution. coming back to can the government stand pressures from outside, the reality is, somalia doesn't have complete control over all its areas, including security. we have over 20,000 troops in somalia, so we need to make sure we understand what is at stake and al-shabab operates in mogadishu and that is the reality. host: [indiscernible] very briefly? >> absolutely.

the ones gaining momentum right now are al-shabab. host: i want to give zachary a chance to come back on this -- zachariah a chance to come back on this. how concerned is the central government about a return of al-shabab because of this controversy? >> legitimate somali people, this is incomprehensible. number two, somalia is a sovereign state, we are not under any obligations in our affairs when we are managing our affairs, to any other country or any other community. it is up to the somali people to

choose their representatives. last but not least is that -- this is a psychological problem. this is called the fear of the unknown. those who do not want to go to the democratic election are afraid of their constituencies, so they have to do it right away. the last time we had an election was in 1967 -- the last time we had a -- was in 1967. host: we will have to leave it there and i am sure we will have further opportunity to continue this discussion. for now, thanks to all our guests in mogadishu, toronto and here in doha. and thank you for watching. you can see the show again anytime i visiting our website, aljazeera.com and our facebook

page, facebook.com/aj. join us on twitter @aj insidestory. for all of us on the team here for now, it is goodbye. ♪

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