Leaders urge Kenyan president to save talks

Somali political groups participating in the Eldoret peace talks have called on Kenya's new president, Mwai Kibaki, to save the talks from collapse.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the leaders' committee alleged that the talks were being mismanaged and conducted contrary to agreements. They also complained about the allocation of extra seats over and above the agreed 300. The statement said the number of delegates, which currently stands at 400, "should remain as already fixed and without further change or increase".

They also accused the organisers of continually changing the conference procedures, and "therefore the slow progress of the process lies squarely with the chairmanship of the technical committee of IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority on Development]".

Elijah Mwangale, the Kenyan special envoy and chairman of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development's technical committee, said the leaders' statement reflected "some frustration with the process".

He told IRIN on Wednesday that the talks were "at a critical stage and they [faction leaders] want the final product to reflect their wishes".

"Unfortunately, it has become a habit for Somali leaders to write letters and statements every time something does not go to their liking," he said.

Mwangale said that at this stage, "everybody must be involved in the talks", including the civil society groups and resource persons.

Meanwhile, members of civil society groups at the talks have described the leaders' statement as an attempt to sideline civil society.

One member, Muhammad Abdi Ghandi, told IRIN that leaders of the political groups "want to have a veto power over the whole process".

"They don't want anyone else involved in the final outcome," he said. "This is the only reason for this letter." He said that giving such powers to the faction leaders "would lead to the failure of the talks".

The civil society groups, he added, were "particularly saddened and disgusted that the TNG [Transitional National Government], which was a product of the civil society, has now joined forces with warlords".

Both the TNG Prime Minister Hassan Abshir and the Speaker of the Transitional National Assembly Abdalla Deerow Issak, along with all the faction leaders, signed the letter.

Ghandi called on the international community to raise its involvement in the talks to a higher level than had so far been the case, and "to give the talks much more visible and sustained political support".