Consultations over selection of MPs continue

Intra-clan consultations expected to culminate in the selection of members of parliament for war-ravaged Somalia continued in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Friday, with sources close to the talks saying delegates to the talks had until 21 June to come up with the list of 275 MPs.

Each of Somalia's four major clans is expected to present a list of 61 MPs to mediators of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) by the June deadline, according to one source.

A fifth clan is expected to produce a list of 31 MPs, thereby bringing the total number of the country's proposed new parliament to 275.

A Speaker and two deputy Speakers would be elected from among the MPs, according to the source. "The Speaker and his deputies will then oversee the election of the president," he said. "We expect to finish the process by the end of July," he added.

The ongoing final phase of the peace talks, which have lasted more than a year, began on 22 May after stalling for nearly four months following disagreements over article 30 of the Transitional Federal Charter of Somalia signed on 29 January. The article details the procedures for selecting MPs.

Some of the delegates wanted the MPs to be selected by the 24 leaders who signed the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement of October 2002, plus the president of the Transitional National Government (TNG), which is represented at the talks.

But the IGAD mediators insisted that MPs be selected "at the subclan levels by recognised political leaders comprising the TNG, the National Salvation Council, regional administrations, the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council, the G8 and civil society organisations, and be endorsed by genuine traditional leaders".

The peace process is aimed at restoring a functioning administration in Somalia, which has had no effective central government since the overthrow in 1991 of the regime of Muhammad Siyad Barre.