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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

SOMALIA: Peace talks have achieved little, civil society says

NAIROBI, 25 March 2003 (IRIN) - The Somali peace talks currently underway in Kenya have achieved very few tangible results, members of Somali civil society said on Tuesday.

According to a statement, received by IRIN, the group listed a range of objectives it said had not been met. These included "peace and national reconciliation, agreement on a provisional charter and other core issues, as well as the establishment of a national government".

"The organisation of the process is poor and should it continue in this manner, very little can be expected," the statement warned.

The talks - which began last October - are being held under the auspices of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development's (IGAD) technical committee, made up of Somalia's neighbours or so-called frontline states - Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.

The statement accused the international community - "especially the frontline states, the EU and the US" - of "heavily influencing an inappropriate selection criteria for conference participants", thereby legitimising and empowering faction leaders.

"It seems that the Somali participants lack vision, common objectives, willingness and drive necessary to achieve peace," it added.

The statement also said the "conflict" among the frontline states was as great an obstacle to the success of the talks, as the conflict among the Somali groups.

It made a number of recommendations, including the formation of "a consensus-building committee to narrow down differences on critical issues and find a common ground for agreements".

It also called on the IGAD frontline states to establish a "coordinated, consistent and transparent policy" on the peace process and to reconcile their differences.

But it stressed that the process was still ongoing "and therefore it remains important not to be completely pessimistic".

The list of 17 signatories included prominent human rights activist Maryan Hussein Awreye and Abdulkadir Aden Abdulle, a former minister and son of Somalia's first president Aden Abdulle Osman.

Themes: (IRIN) Conflict

[ENDS]

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