- [SW News]( UN IRIN) Faction
Leader,(SRRC ) to Attend Nairobi Talks : Posted on [05/19/07 04:16 ]
Faction Leader to Attend Nairobi Talks
Story Filed: Thursday, March 07, 2002 9:28 AM EST
Mar 07, 2002 (UN Integrated Regional Information Networks/All Africa Global Media via
COMTEX) -- Mogadishu faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow, one of the most ardent opponents of
the Transitional National Government (TNG), has said he will attend next month's Somali
reconciliation conference in Nairobi, Kenya, news organisations reported.
The meeting will be convened by the regional body, Inter-Governmental Authority on
Development (IGAD) in the Kenyan capital in late April. However, according to Agence
France Presse (AFP), Yalahow said he would only attend the conference if there was prior
consensus that no central government existed in Somalia.
The status of the TNG has been a bone of contention between the interim authority and
the faction leaders ever since its inception in August 2000, in the Djibouti town of Arta.
The TNG insists it is the legitimate and internationally recognised government of Somalia, and has declared its willingness to negotiate
with those opposed to it. Conversely, the faction leaders have always argued that the TNG
should come to the negotiating table as another faction.
One regional expert told IRIN on Thursday that this issue would "dog the upcoming
conference, and may even prove to be its undoing if it is not handled carefully".
"The organisers must find a way round it if they hope to have a meaningful
outcome," he added.
Yalahow's conditional acceptance to attend the proposed conference comes in the wake of
an announcement last week by leaders of the opposition Somali Reconciliation and
Restoration Council (SRRC) that they would also attend the Nairobi meeting.
In a press release, issued after three days of talks in the Ethiopian town of Dire
Dawa, the group said the SRRC had "reaffirmed its commitment to participate in the
upcoming national reconciliation conference to be held in Nairobi".
Somali Opposition Faction to Attend Nairobi Peace Conference -- By Li
Dawei
Story Filed: Wednesday, March 06, 2002 7:57 AM EST
ADDIS ABABA, Mar 6, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The Somali Reconciliation and
Restoration Council (SRRC) reconfirmed Wednesday that the SRRC will attend the upcoming
national reconciliation conference to be held in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, next month
under the auspices of the six-nation regional Inter-governmental Authority on Development
(IGAD).
At a press conference held here, Hassan Aideed, current chairman of the SRRC, said the
SRRC reaffirmed its commitment to participate in the meeting and decided to set up a
15-member technical committee to work out modalities for the way forward.
He also called upon all parties to take part in the conference with a view to
establishing an inclusive and broad based government in Somalia.
Earlier, the SRRC leadership had rejected to be present at the conference, but Aideed
said "a high-level Ethiopian delegation has briefed the SRRC extensively on the
outcome of the IGAD Council of Ministers meeting held in Nairobi on February 14,
2002."
Foreign Ministers of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan, Kenya, and officials from Eritrea and
Uganda agreed to set up a technical committee to prepare for a Somali reconciliation
conference.
The delegation had emphasized the fact that there was no option for all the Somali
parties other than participating in the proposed reconciliation conference in Nairobi to
establish a broad based government and to commit themselves to fighting terrorism in their
country, said Aideed.
In a related development, Hasan Abshir Farah, prime minister of Somalia's
transitional national government has expressed reservations over the decision by
opposition groups to attend the talks next month.
"It is a welcome development if it is genuine," said Farah, adding "I
don't, however, believe it is genuine."
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