Faction leaders "threatened with arrest"

The leaders of eight Somali factions, which last week sent a protest letter to the organisers of the ongoing peace conference in the Kenyan town of Eldoret, say they have been warned not to leave the venue.

Mogadishu-based faction leader Muhammad Qanyare Afrah told IRIN on Monday the eight had been "threatened with arrest" if they tried to leave Eldoret.

"We are here to attend a peace conference, and if we don't agree with the way it's being conducted we will leave," he said. "We are not prisoners."

Sources close to the talks confirmed to IRIN that the arrest threat had been made, adding that "it is a completely inappropriate way of dealing with the situation". Kenya's special envoy to Somalia, Elijah Mwangale, who is chairing the conference, declined to comment when contacted by IRIN.

Qanyare said the group was protesting against the "virtual veto power" over the conference given to the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), a grouping of southern factions.

He said his group was awaiting a response to two of its demands. He said they wanted "an equal number of delegates to the SRRC, and secondly that during the power-sharing phase of the conference, clan balance be strictly observed and adhered to".

"If these two issues are not adequately addressed, we will leave," he warned.

The organisers reduced the number of delegates from over 700 to 362 after the groups failed to agree on the issue, a source close to the talks told IRIN.

Qanyare added that for the conference to succeed, Somalis should be given the opportunity to talk amongst themselves "without foreigners breathing down our necks".

"We don't have the freedom to talk and interact with each other without the presence of the technical committee [of the mediating Intergovernmental Authority on Development]," he said.