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| East/Subsaharan Africa |
| Mediators Hope for New Somali Government in July |
| 2003-07-06 |
| Look in the dictionary under "anarchy" - there's a map of Somalia (Reuters) - Mediators trying to end more than a decade of anarchy in Somalia said on Sunday they hoped a new government would be chosen this month to take on the formidable task of reuniting the country. And my daughter's hoping for a new car. Bet she gets her hope fulfilled first Faction leaders agreed at talks in Kenya on Saturday to set up a new transitional government by choosing a parliament with a four-year term, a move mediators hailed as a breakthrough after months of wrangling. months of wrangling to settle on a four year term for parliament??? Jeebus, too much Qhat? While Somalia's history of failed peace initiatives is reason for caution, delegates at the talks said the inclusion of more faction leaders than ever before in the deal would help heal divisions in the country of seven million. The agreement aims to introduce a federal system to reunite Somalia, divided by feuding warlords in a law and order vacuum that some counterterrorism experts fear might provide a potential haven for militants. Delegates agreed to choose a 351-member parliament, which will in turn elect a president from among more than 30 candidates -- a process that mediators hope will be complete by the end of July. "We hope that everything will be concluded before the end of this month," said Mohamed Abdullahi, a spokesman for mediators at the talks. "Once parliament has been formed...then everything else will fall in place very quickly." Somali leaders are due to consult with elders to produce a list of parliamentarians representing various clans, with a quota of 12 percent women in the unicameral assembly. The talks have repeatedly slipped behind timetables given by mediators, leading some participants to caution that choosing a parliament may take longer than planned. The agreement signed on Saturday gave no deadline for the establishment of the new government, which will be chosen at the talk's venue in Nairobi before moving to the capital Mogadishu. "STEP FORWARD" "It was a success and a step forward for the Somali people," said prominent Somali warlord Hussein Aideed, chairman of faction leaders forming the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council, who signed the agreement. "The next step is to submit the list for parliament, then we will form the first parliament. I believe that we will do this before the end of July," he told Reuters. Mediators said they hoped the breakaway republic of Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991, will eventually rejoin a federal Somalia, although there was no official Somaliland delegation at the Kenya talks. Somalia already has a shaky transitional government (TNG), whose term is due to expire in August, and which only controls patches of territory. The TNG said it had signed the deal and would be willing to hand over to a new administration. Shouldn't the acronym for a "shaky transitional government" be STG? |
| Posted by:Frank G |