Peace talks fixed for September

The UN Security Council on Tuesday confirmed that the planned Somali peace talks to be held under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, are now scheduled to take place in September.

The Council's current president, Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock of the United Kingdom, said the Council, which is to consider a draft resolution on Somalia this week, "has discussed the prospects of the conference in Nairobi".

"The Council focused in some detail on what is going on in Somalia and what the parties need to do to make that conference a success," he said.

Speaking to reporters, Greenstock said the draft resolution, to be introduced by the Norwegian delegation, would be discussed by experts "to take forward our business in Somalia".

A technical committee, comprising the neighbouring states - Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya - was established by the IGAD foreign ministers' committee, which met in Nairobi in February.

It was charged with preparing a reconciliation conference, due to have been held in April. The technical committee's mandate includes drawing up terms of reference for the conference, determining the criteria for participation, deciding on the number of participants, and monitoring the Somali peace process.

The proposed conference has been affected by a number of delays arising from differences between the frontline states over the objectives of the conference.

According to a regional analyst, further consultations between regional leaders is probably taking place on the fringes of the Organisation of African Unity summit currently convened in Durban, South Africa. "All the main players are there, and I suspect that the Nairobi talks will get serious attention", said the analyst.

The analyst told IRIN that for the conference to convene in September, "the technical committee members will have to reach agreement on the objectives of the conference, and resolve their political difference very quickly".

"The reason why there has been no conference up to now is due to differences between the technical committee members, and not the Somali parties, who all indicated their willingness to participate," he added.