NAIROBI, Kenya Oct 30 (Garowe Online) - A group of East African leaders have called on Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to form a new Cabinet within 15 days.

A heads of state meeting of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Nairobi, Kenya, ended Wednesday with the East African regional bloc issuing a seven-point plan for the remaining months of the TFG mandate to govern Somalia.

Somali MPs in Nairobi, Kenya

The leaders of Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti and Uganda were present at the summit, with various officials representing Sudan and Burundi there as well.

A copy of the communiqué, obtained by Garowe Online, detailed plans for the TFG to form a new Cabinet, a Mogadishu municipal government and finalize the drafting of a Somali Constitution.

Within the next 15 days, the TFG must "appoint a new Cabinet" and "establish the Banadir [Mogadishu] administration, as stipulated in the Addis Ababa Roadmap."

The Joint Security Committee, composed of government and opposition delegates, must be effective by 25 November, the communiqué read.

A new constitution must be completed and political parties established within the next six months.

A curious clause states: "The issue of the extension of the transitional period might be considered in accordance with the provisions of the Transitional Federal Charter on the basis of the progress made on the ground."

The IGAD conference intended to "audit" the TFG progress since 2004 was preceded by the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the Somali government and its political opposition, the Alliance for Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS).

IGAD leaders welcomed the peace deal, but  insurgent groups active in Somalia have rejected the peace process outright, including the al Shabaab militia whose fighters control key towns.

Also Wednesday, suicide bombers struck five government targets in the relatively stable northern enclaves of Somaliland and Puntland, killing scores of people. Full story

Somalia's last effective national government was toppled by warlords in 1991, plunging the country into civil war.

Islamist rebels have spearheaded an anti-Ethiopia insurgency in central and southern Somalia for the last two years.

Source: Garowe Online