Leaders discuss peace process

The president of Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG), Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, and four prominent faction leaders met on Tuesday in Mogadishu to discuss the Somali peace talks currently underway in Kenya, one of the leaders told IRIN on Wednesday.

The meeting brought together Abdiqassim, the leader of the Juba Valley Alliance, Col Bare Hiirale, Mogadishu-based faction leaders Muse Sudi Yalahow and Usman Hasan Ato, and Muhammad Ibrahim Habsade of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA).

It was the first meeting between Abdiqassim and Yalahow, who has been one of the most implacable opponents of the TNG.

Ato told IRIN that the meeting was aimed at "salvaging" the current Somali peace talks being held at Mbagathi, outside Nairobi, under the auspices of the regional Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). He denied that the five leaders were organising parallel talks, saying they wanted "to bring to the fore some of the problems with the Nairobi peace talks, which forced some of us to abandon it".

"What we have begun in Mogadishu is true reconciliation. Leaders who have never spoken to each other are sitting and talking for the first time," Ato said.

The IGAD-sponsored talks began in October 2002 in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret, but were moved to Nairobi in February this year. The talks have been dogged by wrangles over the interim charter, the number of participants and the selection of future parliamentarians, among other things.

Habsade told IRIN that a statement issued after Tuesday's meeting called for IGAD to transfer the chairmanship of the Nairobi talks to Somalis, "to make it a Somali-owned conference," in which "IGAD's role should be that of a facilitator and provide support when needed".

According to Habsade, the statement said another issue of importance to the Somali people was "the participation in the conference of all those who are currently not there". This includes representatives from the "northern regions" - a reference to the self-declared republic of Somaliland - and "prominent personalities that have stayed away".

The statement also called on IGAD to set up a committee of Somali legal and constitutional experts to be advised by international experts.

Habsade said there were many problems with the charter (interim constitution) in its current form. "We need Somalis who understand Somali needs to be given the opportunity to correct it," he said.

Yalahow told IRIN, "we want reconciliation among leaders first. Throughout the time of the talks, there has not been any reconciliation. Leaders who came here as enemies remain so to this day. How can such leaders work together in the same government?"