Search
  1. Home
  2. East Africa
  3. Somalia

Invitations to peace talks go out

    NAIROBI

    Invitations to attend the much-postponed Somali reconciliation conference, due to start next week, have been sent out, sources close to the talks told IRIN on Wednesday.

    "Everything is on track and the invitations to all the political entities were sent by yesterday, 8 October," the sources said. Invitations to civil society groups - which go to individuals - "should go out by today or tomorrow".

    The conference, brokered by the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), is due to open next Tuesday in the Kenyan town of Eldoret. Delegates are expected to start arriving the day before.

    The sources said that invitations to attend the opening ceremony, which will be presided over by Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi, had been sent to all IGAD heads of state.

    Some 300 delegates from the various groups are expected to participate, an IGAD source told IRIN on Wednesday. However, the number of delegates allocated to each group has not been made public, "and will be seen as delegates start registering, since some fine tuning will go on up to the last minute".

    Invitations have been sent to political groups including the Transitional National Government (TNG) in Mogadishu; the authorities of Somaliland and Puntland; the Baidoa-based Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA), which controls much of the Bay and Bakol regions of southwestern Somalia; the Juba Valley Alliance (JVA) which controls Kismayo, also in the south; and the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), another alliance of southern factions opposed to the TNG.

    The self-declared republic of Somaliland has said it will not attend the peace conference, as it does not consider itself part of Somalia. In Puntland and Baidoa, the issue of who will participate is complicated by the fact that rival leaders are vying for power.

    The peace conference was originally scheduled for April this year, but has been postponed several times amid differences between the technical committee mandated to prepare it. The IGAD technical committee comprises the neighbouring states of Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join