Africa
Speaker flies to Kenya, Djibouti leader confirms IGAD conference
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Oct 12, 2008 - 5:07:45 PM

DJIBOUTI CITY, Djibouti Oct 12 (Garowe Online) - The Speaker of Somalia's interim federal parliament flew from the southwestern town of Baidoa Sunday en route to Nairobi, Kenya, where a conference is scheduled to open later this month.

Speaker Sheikh Adan "Madobe" Mohamed was accompanied by a number of lawmakers as he flew from a small airstrip in Baidoa, officials told Radio Garowe.

He did not speak with the media before departing, but local officials linked the Speaker's trip to Nairobi to a conference being organized by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a seven-member East African regional bloc that helped established Somalia's interim government in 2004.

Baidoa officials said "many MPs" out of the 275-seat federal parliament are already in Nairobi as part of the IGAD invitation to lawmakers, the President and Prime Minister, as well as Cabinet ministers. [ Full story]

'Go to Mogadishu'

The President of Djibouti, Ismail Omar Ghelle, became the first IGAD leader to confirm the upcoming conference being held for Somalia's interim government.

President Ghelle told the BBC Somali Service during a Sunday interview that the conference is intended to boost the reconciliation process and resolve personal disputes among government officials.

"IGAD plans to meet directly with Somali government officials and promote reconciliation," the Djiboutian leader said.

He rejected speculation that the IGAD conference is a platform for the creation of a new interim government, which would include the opposition and remain in power until the national elections of 2009.

"I know for a fact that IGAD will urge the international community to go to Mogadishu and open offices," the President of Djibouti said.

Somalia, in the volatile Horn of Africa region, has been mired in armed conflict since the early 1990s.

Today's interim government, backed by troops from IGAD member-state Ethiopia, is facing a bloody insurgency and a worsening humanitarian crisis on the ground.

Source: Garowe Online