Faction leaders meet in Jowhar

A group of faction leaders who abandoned the Somali peace talks currently going on in Kenya on Thursday met in Jowhar, 90 km north of the capital, Mogadishu, to discuss how "to save" the Nairobi talks, according to one of the leaders. The meeting, which reportedly brought together over 120 people, was attended, among others, by Muhammad Habeb, the self-styled governor of Jowhar; Shaykh Adan Madobe, the leader of a Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA) faction; Gen Muhammad Sa'id Hirsi Morgan; and Ambassador Abdullahi Shaykh Isma'il. Madobe, who is the group's spokesman, told IRIN on Thursday that the purpose of the meeting was to find ways of "salvaging" the talks being held at Mbagathi in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, under the auspices of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). He denied that his group was holding parallel talks, saying they only wanted "to discuss what we can do to rectify mistakes and problems with the peace conference, which forced some of us to leave it". "We have no intention of scuttling the peace conference; on the contrary, we want to save it," he said, but then accused the IGAD facilitation committee of "actions that will lead to the collapse of the talks". "What we are trying to do is find ways of salvaging the talks, but if this proves impossible, then we shall have to consider what to do next," said Madobe. However, a local journalist in Jowhar told IRIN that he believed the group was trying to persuade other groups to convene a separate peace conference inside Somalia, and very probably had "no intention of returning to Nairobi", from which "they have recalled all their delegates". Madobe, for his part, conceded that the convening of a parallel conference was not outside the bounds of possibility. "We have told IGAD of our concerns, but they have done nothing in response," he complained. He went on to say that the three-day Jowhar meeting would look for solutions to the difficulties facing the Nairobi talks, "but if that proves impossible, we will hold a peace conference inside Somalia. We have to work for the interests of our people." The group had earlier demanded that for the Nairobi conference to succeed, all IGAD member states must be represented. Ethiopia, one of the so-called frontline states, has had no representation at the talks for several months. The Jowhar meeting had been organised by the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), Madobe told IRIN. However, some SRRC members were absent from the meeting. Hasan Muhammad Nur Shatigadud, the leader of another RRA faction and a founding member of the SRRC, told IRIN last week that he supported the Nairobi peace process. He is not attending the Jowhar meeting. Also absent is the current SRRC chairman, faction leader Husayn Muhammad Aydid. Awad Ashara, the spokesman for the self-declared region of Puntland in northeastern Somalia, told IRIN that the Nairobi process was going well, "and Somalia does not need another conference. We should strengthen this one." He pointed out that the Jowhar group had some concerns "and if their main concerns are addressed, I am confident they will be back". The IGAD-sponsored talks began in October 2002 in the western Kenyan town of Eldoret, but were moved to Nairobi in February 2003. They have been dogged by wrangles over the interim charter, the number of participants and the selection of future parliamentarians, among other things.