First reading of draft charter concluded

Delegates to the Somali peace talks underway in Nairobi last week ended their first reading of the draft charter, or interim constitution. "The final reading was completed on Thursday. Everything went well except for Article 19, which is still being considered," said James Kiboi of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) technical committee, which is steering the talks. Article 19 deals with the issue of how to refer to existing administrations. Kiboi, the committee's liaison officer, told IRIN there was a sticking point over the terminology of "regional administrations" - favoured by most delegates. However the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland wanted its administration to be known as a "state". "We are optimistic a compromise will be found on this issue," Kiboi said. He added that the conference would be adjourned for "about a week" so that Somali legal experts and a Kenyan constitutional lawyer could harmonise the views and "come up with a clean document". The new document would then be presented to a plenary session of delegates. "We are hopeful that by Saturday [30 August] the plenary will adopt the charter, thereby concluding the second phase of the talks," Kiboi stated. He also expressed optimism that leaders who had left the conference, dissatisfied with aspects of the charter, would rejoin "before we move to the third phase". This final phase of the talks deals with the thorny issue of power-sharing. "We have been in constant contact with some of them and indications are high that they might rejoin," Kiboi noted. Among those absent from the talks are the president of the Transitional National Government (TNG) Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, prominent Mogadishu-based faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow, and the leader of the Kismayo-based Juba Valley Alliance (JVA) Col Barre Adan Hirale. The IGAD-sponsored talks began in October 2002 in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret, but were moved to Nairobi in February this year.