IGAD foreign ministers' meeting again postponed

A meeting of the foreign ministers of Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya to discuss the Somali peace process has again been postponed.

The meeting was originally fixed for 16 August, then postponed until last Friday (23 August) and further delayed until this week. But a source involved in the Somali reconciliation talks told IRIN on Monday the meeting would not go ahead. "They will most likely meet sometime next week," he said.

The three countries, which all border Somalia, have been mandated by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to take the lead in preparing for the Somali reconciliation conference, which is to be held in Kenya.

The delay is due mainly to logistical and time constraints. "Most of the ministers are attending the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, and therefore are not available at this time," the source said.

The three countries' technical committee completed a report two weeks ago, after ending a fact-finding mission to Somalia, during which it held talks with the Transitional National Government (TNG) and other groups. The ministerial meeting was expected to discuss this report.

The delay in holding the ministerial meeting would also affect the convening of the Somali reconciliation talks, scheduled to open on 16 September in Eldoret, western Kenya, an IGAD source added.

However, he believed the delay would be of short duration, "maybe a week to two weeks". "I am confident that the conference will take place, if not on the 16th, at the latest towards the end of September," he told IRIN.

He said Somali faction leaders had requested the postponement of the Eldoret conference. "They have made their views known through the press and through delegations," he said.

The talks, which are expected to bring together the TNG and other Somali parties, had originally been scheduled to take place in April, but have been repeatedly postponed. The source stressed that civil society groups would have "appropriate representation" at the talks.

Previous reconciliation talks in Kenya last December resulted in an agreement between the TNG (TNG) and some opposition factions.