The TFG Review

[Jacaylbaro]

Top officials in Somalia’s interim government are in Nairobi for a regional meeting to discuss piracy along the coast and a potential ceasefire between opposing forces in the war-torn country.

 

Somali president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and scores of Somali MPs will attend a summit hosted by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional body comprising seven African states. The summit, which takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, will feature high-level meetings as well as a special banquet hosted by President Kibaki.

 

According to IGAD spokesman Brazille Musumba, “peace and security in Somalia are at the top of the agenda.” Precise topics of discussion will be decided on Tuesday morning during a meeting of ministers.

 

Kenya's Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula on Monday said the summit will “audit” the efforts of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to bring law and consensus to the war-torn country since its establishment four years ago.

 

“We have only nine months left until the end of the Transitional Federal Charter,” he said at a Press conference, referring to a five-year plan that was signed in February 2004 in Nairobi. The document called for a new constitution, the formation of political parties and the drawing of internal boundaries.

 

Even though the summit will feature a special session for IGAD heads of state, it is not clear that all of them will attend. Reports from Sudan have indicated its top officials, including President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, will skip the conference in protest of Kenya’s alleged involvement in the supply of arms to southern Sudan. These allegations followed the hijacking of the mv Faina, a Ukranian vessel that was transporting more than 30 T-72 tanks to the Mombasa port.

 

“I do not know whether the Sudanese head of state will attend,” Mr Wetang’ula said. “I do not know at what level they will be represented.”

 

The minister again repeated Nairobi's insistence that the tanks belong to Kenya and were not bound for southern Sudan, which would have been illegal. “There are no shipments to Sudan,” he argued.

 

Piracy will be high on the agenda at the IGAD summit. On Saturday, Mr Awad Ahmed Ashareh the chairman of Somalia’s Parliamentary Committee for Information, Culture, Public Awareness and Heritage, told the Daily Nation that piracy has become an international threat.

 

Mr Ashareh said his country has already allowed Russia and the United States to use its waters to confront pirates who hijacked the mv Faina, but he noted that the move has yet to be approved by the Somali parliament.

 

The legislator, a former Religious Affairs Minister, said Somalia welcomes efforts by all nations to fight piracy but cautioned that this should be done through proper legal channels in order to "protect the sovereignty and marine resources of Somalia.”

 

He suggested that countries surrounding the Horn of Africa should sign a collective agreement about how to fight piracy.

 

IGAD was created in 1986 and is comprised of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Eritrea. Its wide-ranging vision is to bring economic development, food security, investment, peace and stability to the region.

[Jacaylbaro]

Waar ma buug baa ,,,

[Jacaylbaro]

Kenya says Somali government has failed

 

APA-Nairobi (Kenya) Kenya Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula on Monday expressed fears that Somali's transitional federal government (TFG) has failed to make significant progress in achieving goals spelt out in charter that established it five years ago.

 

Wetangula expressed his fears to Somalis President Abdullahi Yusuf who is in the country to attend the extraordinary summit of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) scheduled to start on Tuesday in Nairobi.

 

The summit brings together various political parties of Somalia to discuss the political affairs of the country.

 

The TFC charter is the principle organizing document of the Somali Republic, written and approved in February 2004 in Nairobi.

 

Wetangula said that with only 9 months left before the expiry of the charter Somalia has not been able to come up with a new constitution within five years as spelt out in the charter.

 

He said Somalia has not been able to conduct a national population census and come up with legislation that will legalize political parties in the war-torn country.

 

He said the IGAD meeting will prove a good chance for IGAD countries to provide an audit of the performance of TFG for the past four years.

 

Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Omar Guelleh of Djibouti, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Ethiopian Prime Minister Melles Zenawi are expected to attend the meeting.

 

IGAD member countries are Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.