Parliament to hold next session in Mogadishu

The Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP) of Somalia will hold its next session in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, the speaker told IRIN on Thursday.

"The parliament will meet in the capital on 17 May," Sharif Hassan Shaykh Aden, the TFP speaker, said.

The move follows a controversial parliamentary session held by a group of MPs in the absence of the speaker on Wednesday in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.

The session debated two contentious motions: the proposed deployment of peacekeeping troops from neighboring countries, and the temporary relocation of the government to the towns of Jowhar and Baidao, in south and south-central Somalia, respectively.

Wednesday’s motions were tabled by MPs who support the deployment of troops from Somalia's immediate neighbors - Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti – as part of any peacekeeping force.

Government spokesman Abdirahaman Dinari told IRIN on Thursday that the nearly 150 MPs present overwhelmingly voted in favor of the two motions. "The parliament has made a decision, and it is binding," he said.

Aden, however, called the vote "null and void" under the interim constitution. "It was an illegally convened session," he said. "I am, as the speaker, the only one charged with setting the date for sessions of the parliament. It is therefore an illegal meeting and nothing passed by it is binding on parliament."

The government had asked the speaker to set a date to debate the motions. "I have set a 17 of May," Aden said. "That date still stands."

He added: "I don’t understand why they want to rush. These motions are very sensitive and require very serious reflection. They involve the deployment of foreign forces. We need to make sure that we have everyone on board before we make such a decision. We can not afford to make a mistake on this."

Dinari, however, disputed that the speaker was the only one who could set a date for parliamentary business. "The president has the power, within the law, to call an emergency session of parliament, and that is what he did. The speaker was approached, and he refused."

The contentious issue of peacekeepers from neighboring countries has been discussed previously by the TFP, and has led to disagreements. On 18 March, three MPs were injured in a scuffle between opponents and supporters of the motion.

In February, the African Union (AU) authorised the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the facilitator of Somalia's peace process, to send a peace mission to Somalia. IGAD’s members are Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.

The mission’s purpose was to help the transitional Somali government gain a foothold in the country before its relocation from Kenya. The government has remained in Nairobi since it was established in October, citing security concerns in Mogadishu.

Prominent Somali faction leaders and members of the public, however, have opposed the plan - in particular the suggestion to include troops from neighboring countries.

The US and the International Crisis Group (ICG) have also expressed concern over the inclusion of troops from countries neighboring Somalia without the approval of the Somali people.

Commenting on the situation, the ICG director for the Horn of Africa division, Matt Bryden, said that the vote was "a serious setback for the Somali peace process". He added: "It widens the divisions within the TFI [Transitional Federal Institutions] and greatly increases the likelihood of conflict."

Bryden warned that any troops deployed under such circumstances would be perceived as "supporting one faction against the other and risk becoming party to the conflict".

"It is a good time for IGAD and the AU to bring everyone back to the negotiating table and not take sides," Bryden told IRIN.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian government has denied accusations made on Tuesday by a group of Somali MPs in Nairobi that it had troops inside Somalia.

"These are baseless and unfounded allegations against Ethiopia," Zemedhun Teckle, government spokesman, said. "We are working for a stable Somali central government."

In a public statement read by Somali MP Abdullahi Haji Ali, the group had claimed that Ethiopia was providing weapons to militia groups allied to it, in violation of a UN arms embargo.