Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA)
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
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Mogadishu/Nairobi (dpa) - A European Union-backed reconciliation conference seen as the last best chance to bring some peace to anarchic Somalia was postponed Wednesday, as the unity meet hit the one-month mark. The conference, which several key opposition groups are boycotting, is set to restart Saturday after being adjourned last Wednesday.
The Hawiye clan, Mogadishu's largest, has split over attending the conference and the different factions are set to hold negotiations during the recess to come to a common position, Somali news agency Shabelle reported.
The start of the conference on July 15 was interrupted by mortar shelling, part of a continuing Iraq-style insurgency against the transitional government that has seen more than 1,000 people killed in months of violence.
The meeting was expected to last 45 days, but with so many adjournments and postponements, it may be extended.
Somalia has been without effective rule since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre, which swept the country into anarchy.
Source: dpa, Aug 15, 2007