New clan-based formula for participation in peace talks

Organisers of the Somali peace talks underway in the Kenyan town of Eldoret have proposed a new formula to try and resolve a deadlock over the allocation of delegates' seats. The regional body, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), on Tuesday proposed that Somalia's four main clans – Hawiye, Darod, Dir and Rahanweyn -- would get 84 seats each. Minorities would get 42 seats while 22 would be kept as discretionary seats, making a total of 400. This is an increase on the 362 seats which had been announced. The IGAD proposal was submitted to the leaders' committee at the peace talks, who were asked to deliberate and give their reactions Wednesday. Over 800 members of Somali groups and factions are currently attending the conference in Eldoret. According to a regional expert some of the leaders have been proposing "something along these line". The current proposal looks like "a take it or leave it proposition, which is not open to discussion", he told IRIN. The talks, which started on 15 October, have been deadlocked over the distribution of seats to the plenary session. Some Somali political groups had complained that they were being marginalised and that the distribution of seats was unfairly biased, particularly in favour of the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), a grouping of southern factions opposed to the Transitional National Government (TNG) in Mogadishu. One faction leader, Ali Mahdi Mohamed, has quit the talks. In an interview with the BBC on Monday, Mahdi said the peace conference was going nowhere, as the participants were following their own agendas and there was no common ground. Since the peace conference opened, all the main factions in Somalia's conflict have joined the talks. They are represented in the so-called leaders' committee of the conference, along with civil society. The leaders' committee, which has been mandated to examine all issues before they are put to the plenary session, is expected to work closely with the IGAD technical committee. But Mowlid Ma'ane Mohamoud, who chaired the leaders' committee during the first phase of the conference, said the committee had so far been unable to reach a compromise on the issue of delegates to the plenary. "The problem we have now," he told IRIN, "are members of the leaders' committee who are not wanting to make concessions." Meanwhile, sources close to IGAD say the organisers are pressing ahead with arrangements to get Phase Two of the peace talks started. This involves establishing six committees to produce recommendations to the plenary on key issues. These include federalism and a provisional Federal Charter; demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration; land and property rights; economic institution building and resource mobilisation; regional and international relations; and conflict resolution and reconciliation.