Somali Edges Nearer to Peace

The East African Standard (Nairobi)
July 29, 2004
Posted to the web July 29, 200

Otsieno Namwaya with Reuters
Nairobi

Somali peace efforts have made good progress after a waning of regional rivalries curbed months of damaging interference by neighbouring states, diplomats say.

Defying a multitude of sceptics, a new clan-based administration could be installed in chaotic Mogadishu in weeks, some of the diplomats and analysts say. This would restore government to the only country without one, and revive international interest in a nation long a byword for anarchy.

The easing of an old rift between Ethiopia and Djibouti, competitors for influence in the Horn of Africa country of seven million, is the main factor behind a marked improvement at 20-month-old Somali peace talks in neighbouring Kenya, they say.

"There is a new spirit of cooperation between Djibouti and Ethiopia which is helping me quite a lot," said Kalonzo Musyoka, the Kenyan minister for Environment who is spearheading the talks.

"The Somalis used to play Ethiopia against Djibouti. Now we have made it clear that we have decided to act as one."

Somalia descended into anarchy after warlords ousted then military ruler Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.

"We can say half our problem is gone if we have political leaders who will be in government and ready to disarm," Kenyan special envoy to the talks Bethuel Kiplagat said.

The process has never been easy, even now. Talks organisers called for regional sanctions on Tuesday against one warlord, General Mohamed Hersi Morgan, for activities they said were unhelpful to peace.

But there are indications that thehttp://allafrica.com/stories/200407290013.html ongoing peace talks, at Mbagathi, may not be concluded by July 31 as initially expected.

The sixth Igad Ministerial Facilitation Committee Meeting had last May set July 31 as the last date by which the third and last phase of the peace process-during which the 275 MPs, the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Head of State were supposed to be selected-should have been concluded and the government airlifted to Somalia.

But with only three days to go, only two of the five clans-the Hawiye and the Digil/Mirifle-have filled their slots-61 each. The Darods, the Dirs and a conglomeration of small clans referred to as the fifth clan or simply the 0.5 clan have failed to conclude the process due to differences over the manner of sharing the slots.

The Arbitration Committee, which comprises of clan representatives, had by yesterday managed to quell the storm among the fifth clan members but appeared to be in a quandary over the developments among the Darods and the Dirs, as the Surres (a sub-clan) of the Dirs threatened to withdraw from the process. Should they make good their threat, it will be a major set back for a process that has so far taken 22 months instead of the initial target of four months to conclude.

The cause of the stalemate among the Dirs is that, out of the 61 seats allocated to the clan, 40 have been taken by the Southern Dirs, to the chagrin of the Northern Dirs. "The Southern Dirs have eaten into our share of representation and we are being asked to accept the idea," lamented a Southern Dir delegate who also said they had rejected the verdict of the Arbitration Committee.

The controversy is further being stoked by allegations of corruption among administrators of the peace process-some clan members say they had to pay bribes to individuals to be allowed to bring their traditional leaders, whose only work is to endorse MPs and the Head of State once selected.

Other sources said secret plots by various IGAD member states to support particular individuals could also derail the process.

Ther are 74 presidential candidates, though only a handful have a realistic chance of winning. They include the current President of breakaway Puntland Republic, Abdullahi Yusuf and Abdiqassim Salat Hassan Others are Abdullahi Adow, a former finance minister, Asha Abdallh, the only female candidate, Hussein Aideed, son of former warlord , Farah Aideed, and Farah Addoh, a former international sports administrator and Jama Ali Jama, a former president of the Puntland Republic.

Yesterday, Farah Addoh asked the delegates to shun narrow clan differences for the sake of unity for the war-torn nation.