Reconciliation talks set for end September

Kenyan Foreign Minister Marsden Madoka has suggested that the much-postponed Somali National Reconciliation Conference should now take place on 30 September.

He told the Council of Ministers of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), meeting in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Friday, that the conference should not be delayed any longer.

The conference was originally scheduled to take place in April, but has been repeatedly postponed. The latest date put forward was 16 September. The talks are due to take place in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret.

Members of the three so-called frontline states - Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya - tasked with preparing for the conference, met alone on Friday morning. In the afternoon, the meeting was expanded to include all IGAD member states.

"As we deliberate today, we should bear in mind that our reconciliation initiative is an ongoing process," Madoka said in a statement received by IRIN. "Our expectations should be realistic in view of the complexity of the task ahead of us... We need to reflect on shortcomings that have impeded the process, and build on positive aspects."

He noted that previous initiatives for peace in Somalia had been unsuccessful, due to "two inter-related factors".

"Somali faction leaders have not been ready to give up their personal interests," he said. "Also external actors, particularly from beyond the immediate sub-region, have involved themselves in initiatives that run counter to the IGAD initiative."

"We must at every opportunity impress upon them the urgent need to seize the window of opportunity," he stressed.

Participants in the meeting are due to discuss and adopt a report by a technical committee, made up of the frontline states and the IGAD secretariat.