Somali warlord lays down guns

Sunday, Sep 26, 2004

Nairobi — A warlord who was the last major holdout in peace talks aimed at ending Somalia's 13-year-old civil war has stopped fighting in southern Somalia and asked to join the negotiations, a senior Kenyan government official said Sunday.

Mohamed Siad Hersi, better known as General Morgan, crossed into Kenya's eastern Garissa district Saturday and asked Kenyan authorities to allow him to rejoin peace talks in the capital, Nairobi, said Joseph Nyagah, Kenya's assistant regional co-operation minister.

Gen. Morgan walked out of the talks in March over a dispute regarding a transitional charter for Somalia.

“We ... are obviously happy that he's finally seen the need to be part and parcel of the inevitable, that there is going to be peace in Somalia,” Mr. Nyagah told The Associated Press.

The seven-nation regional organization mediating the talks, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, had threatened to slap heavy sanctions on Gen. Morgan.

Mr. Nyagah said Gen. Morgan was staying in a Nairobi hotel. “We're at the moment trying to find out how we can incorporate him in the peace process as various people want it to be as inclusive as possible,” he said.

On Sept. 16, gunmen loyal to Gen. Morgan began fighting rival militias for control of the Indian Ocean port of Kismayo, about 500 kilometres south of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu. Dozens of men on both sides died in the clashes in Kismayo, which is controlled by the Juba Valley Alliance of clan-based faction leaders and some Somali businessmen.

The two-year-old peace talks are close to forming what would be Somalia's first effective central government since a rebellion ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, transforming the nation of 7-million people into a patchwork of battling fiefdoms ruled by militias.

A transitional federal parliament, whose members include Somalia's main warlords and is supported by the country's influential traditional leaders, was formed last month and a speaker elected Sept. 15. The parliament has a five-year term.

Members of parliament are scheduled to elect a president Oct. 10. The president would nominate a prime minister to form a government.