Talks will not stop despite A/Qassim’s walkout - UN Secretary-General's rep

[miles-militis]

NAIROBI, 30 Jul 2003 (IRIN) - The UN Secretary-General's representative for Somalia, Winston Tubman, has said Somali peace talks will continue despite Wednesday's walkout by the president of the Transitional National Government (TNG), Abdiqassim Salad Hassan.

 

"His absence will make the exercise difficult, but the talks will continue and will not stop," Tubman told IRIN.

 

Abdiqassim told IRIN on Wednesday he was suspending his participation in the Kenya talks "until issues of concern to us are addressed satisfactorily".

 

He said he had taken the decision because the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) technical committee, which is steering the talks, "has ignored and trivialised our concerns".

 

In a separate press statement issued on Tuesday, Abdiqassim accused some members of the technical committee - which comprises Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti - of becoming "part and parcel of the problem" and of having "overtly and covertly supported the division of the TNG".

 

The TNG prime minister, Hasan Abshir Farah, and the speaker of parliament, Abdallah Derow Isak, are still in Nairobi and have opposed Abdiqassim's decision to withdraw.

 

Abdiqassim told IRIN that both men could stay on, "but they have no authority to sign any binding agreement on behalf of the TNG".

 

The press statement said that among the issues which had not been properly addressed were the name of the future Somali government, the status of the existing regional administrations, the composition of a new parliament, and the selection of members of parliament.

 

It noted that another issue of vital importance to the Somali nation was the participation in the conference of representatives from the northern regions.

 

"Contrary to the wishes of the Somali people, the technical committee has unilaterally decided to exclude those regions from the conference, which amounts to the dismemberment of the Somali Republic," said the statement.

 

It reiterated Abdiqassim's rejection of a peace accord reached on 5 July by various groups attending the peace conference, including some members of the TNG.

 

TNG Information Minister Abdirahman Ibbi told IRIN that Abdiqassim would return to the talks "as soon as the issues we raised are adequately addressed".

 

"Once we are satisfied that the technical committee is affording our concerns the seriousness they deserve and addressing them, then we will bring the president back. It only takes 90 minutes to fly from Mogadishu to Nairobi," he stated.

 

The talks, which opened last October under the auspices of IGAD, have been marred by wrangles over issues of representation and selection of members of parliament.

[General Duke]

Madaxweynihii kooxdii Carta oo shirkii Somalida isaga baxay

Nayrobi [MOL] 30 July 2003- Madaxweynihii kooxda Carta Cabdqaasim Salad Xasan ayaa maanta isaga baxay shirkii nabadeynta Somalida isla markaana isla maantaba ka dhoofay magaalada Nayrobi isagoo u sii jeeda magaalada Muqdishu. Cabdiqasim oo lagu soo doortay shirkii aan loo dhamayn ee ka dhacay Tuulada Carta ee dalka Jabuuti muddo 3 sanno ka hor ah ayaa habba yaraatee ku guulaysan inuu wax maamul ah ka hirgaliyo magaalada Muqdishu oo u ahayd xurun muddadii uu sheeganayay Madaxweynenimada. Cabdiqasim ayaa sheegay sababta uu shirka uga baxay inay tahay iyadoo aan Somaliland laga soo qeyb galin shirka sidii uu marar badan codsaday, waxuu intaas ku daray in Dawlada Itoobiya doonayso inay Somaliya kala qaybiso oo ay doonayso in Somaliland dawlad ahaan loo aqoonsado. Somaliland ayaa horey u diiday inay ka soo qayb gasho shirka ayna sheegeen inay wada haddal galayaan kaliya markii Dawlad loo dhan yahay laga sameeyo koonfurta Somaliya.

 

Waxaa wali shirka jooga Xasan Abshir oo ah ra'iisal Wasaarihii Kooxda Carta iyo gudoomiyihii Baarlamaanka Cabdalla Deeroow oo Kooxda Carta bilowgii shirka uga wakiil ahaa inay uga qaybgalaan. Cabdiqasim ayaa sheegay inuu masuuliyiintaas uu kala noqday xilkii uu u soo wakiishay aysana magaciisa hadda waxii ka dambeeya matalin. dhinaca Ra'iisal wasaare Xasan abshir iyo gudoomiyaha Baarlamaanka ayaa iyaguna ku adkaysanaya in sharci ahaan sida uu qorayo axdi qarameedkii ay Carta ku soo samaysteen ay iyagu dawlada uga masuul yihiin wada haddal kasta oo ay la galayaan kooxaha siyaasada ay isaga soo horjeedaan. arintaan ayaana ka dhigtay kooxda Carta inay imminka u kala qeybsameen laba kooxood oo iska soo horjeeda oo koox walba sheeganayso inay iyagu matalaan kooxda Carta.

 

Wali wax wara kama soo bixin Dawladaha safka hore ee IGAD oo iyagu ka dambeeyay abaabulka shirkaan oo hadda socday in ka badan 9 billood. waxaa jira qodob kooxaha sayaasadu ku heshiiyeen oo dhigayay in waxii ka dambeeyay heshiiskii bishaan 5-teedi la gaaray caddii shirka ka hortimaada loo aqoonsan doono dagaal ooge lagana codsaday in qaramada midoobay ay wax ka qabtaan.

 

Mudugonline.com

[BN]

The desperate actions of a desperate man who represents no one but himself.

 

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Somali leader quits talks

 

President Salat warned of a fresh civil war

 

The president of the interim government of Somalia has walked out of peace talks in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, at a crucial stage of a process aimed at ending years of fighting in the country.

 

 

President Abdikassim Salat Hassan accused a committee steering the peace conference and other Somali delegates of sanctioning the "dismemberment" of the Horn of Africa country.

 

But at a news conference in Nairobi, the Transitional National Government (TNG) speaker, Abdi Derrow Issaaq, said the president was trying to wreck the whole process of the peace talks because his term in office was ending in a fortnight.

 

Mr Issaaq denied Mr Salat's claim that the TNG had suspended its participation in the talks, saying they would continue in the president's absence.

 

Another TNG delegate at the talks, Abdi Rahaman Dinari, said President Salat's move would not affect the peace efforts since he walked out of the talks individually and did not have the support of the whole group.

 

'Plot'

 

International observers say that Mr Salat , who controls only 25% of the Somali capital Mogadishu, doubts his future in a new administration which was supposed to be in place by the end of July.

 

The BBC's Hassan Barise says that Mr Salat received a warm welcome back home in Mogadishu, as a large convoy of battle wagons, government officials and dozens of MPs went to meet him at the city's airport.

 

The peace talks continue

 

"I pulled out of the conference because it became a plot to divide Somalia and that it aimed at changing the Somalia's religion, tradition and language," he told his supporters.

 

However, he declined to talk about his next move, saying that the Somali people would decide "their destiny, and hold a meeting in their home country and establish a system which satisfies their needs".

 

President Salat expressed concerns on the outcome of the conference in Kenya, which he claimed "might bring about the flare-up of yet another civil war among the Somalis inside the country".

 

Should he refuse to relinquish power by mid-August, as required by the peace deal, then there is likely to be confrontation between the new government and Mr Salat's clan.

 

The president is reportedly opposed to the establishment of a federal government to govern Somalia for the next four years, and the formation of a transitional parliament of 351 members which will appoint the federal president, who in turn will name a new prime minister.

 

But the deal has been praised by international observers as a significant step towards a peaceful Somali after years of fighting between powerful warlords since 1991, when the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted.

 

Peacekeepers

 

Mr Salat is the third leader to pull out of the talks since peace negotiations started 10 months ago in Nairobi.

 

More than a dozen attempts to broker peace in Somalia since then have failed.

 

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development, (Igad), the regional peace mediators, are keen to see that all factions are included in the new government.

 

IGAD and the African Union (AU) have said that a peacekeeping force will be deployed in Mogadishu and other regions of southern Somalia once the new administration starts to operate.

 

Last month the European Union said it would give financial support to cover the cost of the deployment of the AU force, comprising troops from Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3111033.stm

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Salaan...

 

Honestly, this leader had been humiliated and has every grievance to even walk-out from the Conference. Xataa maloo ogalaan labadii qof shirka ugu qeyb gali lahaa ka aheen C/llaha Deeroow iyo Xasan Abshir, whom don't share his opinions any longer.

 

Labaduu shirka usoo dirsaday waa laga bixiye, kaararkoodana waxaa loogu daray Deeroow/Abshir group-kooda, which was absolutely not fair.

 

I personally concur his departure from those lame discussion talks.

 

All of those so-called faction leaders meeting there, C/qaasin really seems the lone honest Soomaali nationalist leader.

________________

 

Macsalaama.