A short extension might be acceptable if unpopular. Another possibility is for the larger National Assembly of elders, the national Guurti, to meet again, as it did at Boroma in 1993 when Egal was chosen as president, and simply renew the government for two more years. This would again be highly controversial. There is widespread feeling that, if he persists in trying to stay on in power, he will put at risk everything he has achieved over the last two years. Northwestern Somalia and Djibouti rely heavily on each other for their economic well-being.
Somali businessmen use Djibouti money lenders and there is a lucrative cross-border trade.
Somalis said that the conflict stems from Egal's attempts to assert his power in multi-ethnic Somaliland, in particular the authority he has given for his followers to administer and collect levies in the region. This meant that Issa clansmen were ousted from controlling taxation of trade in the border areas near the town of Zeila. An estimated 60 gunmen were killed in battles between rival clan militias on Tuesday in a town in northwestern Somalia, residents said on Thursday. Speaking to Reuters in Djibouti by radio, the residents said 50 of the dead in Burao town were fighters of the Garhajis clan alliance and 10 were loyal to Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, leader of the breakaway republic of Somaliland in the northwest. The number of foreign fishing vessels seized by the National Army for illegal fishing off the western coast of Somaliland has reached five over the past seven days.