SOMALIA: IGAD ministers meet over transitional parliament

NAIROBI, 4 August 2004 (IRIN) - A regional ministerial committee trying to broker peace in Somalia was meeting in Kenya on Wednesday to review progress in peace talks and prepare to inaugurate a transitional parliament for the strife-torn Horn of African country, officials said. Delegates representing Somalia's various clans and sub-clans have been trying to form the Somali Transitional Federal Assembly for several weeks, in order to pave the way for the formation of a broad-based government. The process has, however, been fraught with disagreements on how to share the seats and intra-clan wrangling over individuals to be appointed MPs. Foreign ministers of member states of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Drought and Development (IGAD), under whose auspices the peace talks are being held, had on July 19 said that they expected to launch the parliament on 30 July. The deadline could not be met because some clans had not nominated their members. Sources said the process of allocating seats and naming the MPs had been particularly contentious for two clans - the Darod and the Dir. Each of Somalia's four major clans was allocated 61 seats in the proposed 275-member parliament, while an alliance of minority clans would have 31 MPs. A speaker and two deputy speakers to be elected from among the parliamentarians will preside over the election of the president, who will in turn appoint a prime minister mandated to form a government. IGAD mediators had earlier urged the delegates to honour a 31 July 2004 deadline for the end of Phase III, the last stage of the peace talks. Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991 when the regime of Muhammad Siyad Barre was toppled and the country plunged into anarchy and violence. IGAD groups Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda. Somalia is also a member, but is not fully represented because it lacks a functioning government. The IGAD-sponsored Somali National Reconciliation Conference began in October 2002 in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret, and was moved to Nairobi in February 2003. Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) said it was ready to continue to support the Somalia National Reconciliation Conference and urged delegates to continue their efforts to reach an early and positive conclusion. "The European Union commends the efforts of Somali leaders [...] and calls upon them to ensure that the same spirit of positive co-operation prevails during the remainder of the reconciliation process. It welcomes in particular the cohesiveness shown by IGAD member states and their resolve to adopt a common approach based on political consensus," the EU said in a statement issued in Brussels on Tuesday. The EU appealed to all parties in the Somalia reconciliation process to form an inclusive government that would be committed to furthering stability and constructive dialogue with all Somalis. It called for commitment from members of such a government to an effective ceasefire and to the creation of a stable national environment, including the eradication of any possible terrorist activity, and to work for humanitarian access across Somalia and for the protection of civilians. The proposed Somali administration should also work with commitment towards a federal Somalia by establishing a federal commission as stated in the Transitional Federal Charter, the EU statement said.