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Somali leaders launch reconciliation bid
[Al Jazeera] Somali leaders have begun a three-day national reconciliation conference in an effort to end 20 years of turmoil and set up plans for a new government.African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... peacekeepers were deployed around the talks' venue in the capital, Mogadishu, on Sunday on Sunday. "It is an historic day and I hope that our discussions will bring credible ideas that bring Somalia's troubles to an end," Sharif Ahmed, the president of the transitional Somali government, said at the opening of the talks. Also attending the conference were the president of Somalia's breakaway Puntland region, Ibrahim Mohamed Mohamud; the leader of the semi-autonomous central Galmudug region; and members of a pro-government Sufi militia, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa. However, a person who gets all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package... neither Somaliland, which broke away in 1991, nor a  l-Shabaab... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban. The organization's current leader is Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad, also known as Ibrahim al-Afghani. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, a Kenyan al-Qaeda member, is considered the group's military leader... fighters, who retreated from Mogadishu last month but remain in control of most of the south and centre of the country, are being represented at the meeting. The talks, which are scheduled to run through Tuesday, will focus on improving security, national reconciliation, a new constitution, governance and parliamentary reforms. "We have only one year to accomplish the prioritised tasks ... This roadmap should give us a chance to realise peace in Somalia that has eluded us in the last 20 years," Augustine Mahiga, the UN representative for Somalia, said, referring the plan under discussion. "This roadmap, unlike before, there are going to be timelines, there are going to be compliance mechanisms and there is going to be oversight by the politicians of the whole region." Posted by: Fred 2011-09-05 |
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