By Vernon Wessels
Saturday, January 10, 2009
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Somalia’s transitional government and a rival Islamist group agreed to start the process that will lead to presidential elections this month. “The Transitional Federal Government and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia have agreed to hold the elections for the president,” the African Union said in a statement today after a meeting in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The process leading to a poll will take place in Djibouti from Jan. 20 to Jan. 26.
Efforts are also under way to form an expanded parliament, which would elect the president and other state-officers, according to the AU, whose officials met representatives from the United Nations, Burundi, Uganda, Somalia and Ethiopia to review security after the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.
U.S.-backed Ethiopian soldiers invaded Somalia in December 2006, ousting the Islamic Courts Union, an Islamist alliance that had briefly controlled much of the country. Its attempt to reinstall the UN-backed transitional government in the capital, Mogadishu, was met with an insurgency by Islamist and clan-based militias.
Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, president of the transitional government, resigned on Dec. 29 following a power struggle with Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein.
The international community needs to “redouble” efforts to support peace-keeping soldiers and aid the political progress, the AU said. The 10,000-strong joint security forces “particularly” need “full logistical support,” it added.
There had been a “significant threat reduction” in Somalia, especially in Mogadishu, the organization said. The meeting will again convene on Jan. 17 to include more international partners, the AU said, without giving further details.
To contact the reporter on this story: Vernon Wessels in Johannesburg at [email protected]