Envoy Sees Glimmer of Hope in Troubled Talks

[Gabbal]

African Church Information Service

 

December 8, 2003

Posted to the web December 8, 2003

 

Nernlor Gruduah

Nairobi

 

As Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) foreign ministers meet in Nairobi today (December 8) to restart the stalled Somali peace talks, a senior United Nations official is urging the mediators not to waver until a comprehensive and all-inclusive peace settlement is reached. Our writer, Nernlor Gruduah, reports.

 

The head of the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), Mr Winston A Tubman, has said that only an all-inclusive agreement will bring lasting peace in the country, and end the suffering of the people.

 

Bickering among Somali clan-based factions over the composition of a new political structure has resulted in the current stalemate in the Somali National Reconciliation Conference.

 

The talks have been taking place in Kenya for more than a year now.

 

Discussions began in October last year in Eldoret town in western Kenya, before being transferred a few months later to the capital, Nairobi.

 

Despite an immediate agreement on cessation of hostilities, the various militia groups operating in parts of Somalia have made it impossible for this to be observed.

 

The foreign ministers meeting here today, drawn from a facilitation committee comprising representatives from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea, are expected to table a proposal that will push forward the process.

 

Their meeting will be followed by a proposed 10-day retreat of the various Somali factions in the Kenyan coastal town of Mombasa, according to Tubman, who is also the representative of UN Secretary-General in Somalia.

 

"The process should not be abandoned because of this impasse. The foreign ministers should come up with a decision that will unblock the process," says Tubman.

 

"Our duty is to support IGAD, and we will continue to support it fully," he adds.

 

The UN envoy, a Liberian, whose country is beginning to emerge from 14 years of brutal civil war, says he is aware of the complexity and intractability of the Somali crisis. He is calling on facilitators not to grow weary, but to ensure that a durable solution is found.

 

His advice comes amid threats of a boycott of the talks by the recently formed Somali National Salvation Council, an alliance of 12 factions.

 

The vice chairman of the alliance, Barre Hirale, is quoted as having said that the Nairobi talks were not home-grown, and imposed on them.

 

He had suggested that a reconciliation conference be held inside Somalia.

 

But several other past reconciliation conferences have failed to produce a unifying government in the country.

 

Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991, following the ousting of President Siad Barre.

 

Clan-based rival warlords have carved out numerous fiefdoms within the country, with the defacto Transitional National Government (TNG), headed by Abdulkassim Salat Hassan, controlling only parts of the capital, Mogadishu.

 

The main sticking point has been over the number of members of parliament to be chosen by each group, including elders, and clan and faction leaders.

 

Despite this, an optimistic Tubman maintains that the international community is putting pressure on all the stakeholders, including those threatening a boycott, to turn up and begin the third phase of the talks.

 

After the withdrawal of the interim president from the talks in July, the UN official explains, other groups opposed to the government felt the delay was unnecessary, and also threatened to boycott the talks.

 

Salat walked out of the talks, arguing that they were leading to the "dismemberment" of Somalia. He was particularly incensed by plans being negotiated to introduce a federal system in the country.

 

"We do not want to leave out any group that represents a significant segment of the Somali society, which would be a potential threat to any future arrangement. That is why this conference is different from the one held in Djibouti, that led to the creation of the interim government," Tubman cautions.

 

The Salat government was appointed in August 2000 by clan elders and other senior Somali leaders at the Djibouti conference, but excluded key warlords.

 

Consequently, some of the warlords ganged up against the interim government, making it impossible for it to exercise authority over the country.

 

Groups opposed to the TNG are also allegedly backed by Ethiopia, thereby complicating the situation. Intermittent clan fighting has continued ever since.

 

Another contentious issue is Salat's refusal to leave office after his three-year mandate expired in August. He argued that his government would not step down until a new government and parliament had been set up.

 

His sacked Prime Minister, Abshir Farah, told journalists that the TNG became illegitimate as from August 13, and accused Salat of deliberately attempting to make the Somali peace talks fail, so as to justify prolonging his stay in power.

 

Salat's camp has been joined by the so-called Juba Valley Alliance in opposing other factions at the talks.

 

The Kenyan head of the facilitation committee, Ambassador Bethwel Kiplagat, is quoted as saying the talks have so far cost US$7 million.

 

Funding is being provided by the European Union, individual EU member states, as well as the Arab League.

 

Less than two weeks ago, Kenya's foreign affairs minister, Kalonzo Musyoka, also complained that since the talks began last October, no tangible arrangement had been reached at.

 

Asked about his acceptance by the Somali people to oversee the process, a confident Tubman replied: "I find them very friendly people. They know we in Liberia have had similar problems, so they open up to me."

 

He added: "Moreover, they know the UN is being headed by an African and as such, there is a lot of trust in us. They are able to convey messages on pertinent issues through me to the Secretary-General."