A Timely Somali Peace Conference

[General Duke]

A Timely Somali Peace Conference

Posted to the MOL August 8, 2007, 5:56 am

 

 

The Somali reconciliation conference currently going on in the Somali capital is distinctive in its approach to bringing together the traditional leaders who wield much influence at the local level. Unlike past reconciliation conferences that emphasised the inclusion of war lords or visible power brokers, this conference complements the reconciliation effort that culminated in birth of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia.

 

In an article in Wall Street Journal, Anna Husarska of the International Rescue committee, argued that " there are reasons to be skeptical of the outcome of this conference because this is not the first time such an effort has been undertaken. Before the current government came to power, 13 similar reconciliation meetings were held over a decade, yet violence continues today. The Union of Islamic Courts may be partly right when it says: "[The conference] is a [Transitional Federal] government's project only aimed at getting donor funds."

 

Words of the Union of Islamic of Courts were worth quoting before their leaders found themselves marooned in Asmara, Eritrea, where they continually and shamelessly justify the murderous actions of their remnants who maim and kill innocent women and children in Mogadishu in the hope of discrediting the TFG and the law enforcement forces.

 

The Chairman of the reconciliation conference Ali Mahdi Mohamed, former Interim President, reiterated his call for the Islamic Courts' leaders to attend the conference. Ali Mahdi is on the record for being candid and honest about his call for the ****** clan to put their weight behind the ongoing peace process. He earned the respect of clan leaders and religious men. Minority unarmed clans, previously referred to as ' the other' are now called ' the fifth clan', a feat that will not be forgotten.

 

The reconciliation conference will lay stronger foundation for a peaceful, tolerant and more prosperous Somalia at peace with itself, with its neighbours and with the International community. The organizers of the conference deserve our accolade and support. They are peace lords.

 

 

Farah Ali Hassan,