Mogadishu factions sign peace deal with TNG

After weeks of formal and informal talks between the Somali Transitional National Government (TNG) and various factions opposed to it, a peace deal was signed in the Kenyan town of Nakuru on Monday, with both sides asserting that the talks had a been a success. A joint statement issued in Nakuru, in the presence of Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi, who convened the talks, said the sides had agreed to the establishment of "an all-inclusive government" to ensure equitable power-sharing among all Somali clans. The parties had also agreed to "to propose to parliament [Transitional National Assembly] to increase the number of MPs and members of the council of ministers", according to the statement. The Transitional Charter currently limits the number of MPs to 245 and members of the cabinet to 25. The agreement also called for the establishment of a Nairobi-based secretariat to oversee the implementation of the Somali peace process and to solicit funds for it. The sides called on all those other political groups which had remained outside the peace process to join it "with the objective of widening and deepening the process of national reconciliation", according to the statement. The agreement also calls for the renunciation of violence as a means of settling political differences, and for the government to "ensure cooperation with international community in the eradication of terrorism". The TNG prime minister, Hasan Abshir Farah, who led a high-ranking TNG delegation to the talks, signed the agreement for the TNG, while the secretary-general of the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), Mawlid Ma'ane, faction leader Usman Hasan Ali Ato and members of other opposition factions, signed for the factions. The representatives included those of Husayn Aydid's Somali National Alliance and Umar Finish, deputy to Muse Sudi Yalahow, who is leader of the United Somali Congress/Somali Salvation Alliance (USC/SSA). However, Husayn Aydid, one of Mogadishu's main faction leaders and a member of the SRRC, has reportedly rejected the agreement. "We reject it completely," AFP quoted him as saying. The success of this latest agreement would depend on how fully it was implemented, a regional expert told IRIN on Wednesday. "We have had a number of agreements that never got off the ground because they were never implemented," he said. However, diplomatic sources told IRIN that this particular agreement "has a better chance of success than previous ones, because it deals specifically with Mogadishu". Almost all the important factions which signed the agreement are Mogadishu-based. "I have no doubt that this will be a success", a member of the TNG delegation told IRIN. The prime minister had clearly stated that reconciliation would be his "number-one priority", he added. "I think we all agree that this time we cannot fail to implement this agreement," a member of USC/SSA delegation told IRIN. "In a month's time you will see a different Mogadishu," he predicted.