SOMALIA: UN urges
Somalis to respect peace commitments
NAIROBI, 7 Jan 2003 (IRIN) - With the renewal of hostilities
in parts of Somalia, Maxwell Gaylard, the UN Resident
and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, has called on
all parties to the Eldoret peace declaration to respect
their commitments.
In a press release issued on Tuesday, Gaylard
noted that despite commitments made by the Somali leaders
to cease hostilities, violence and armed conflict in some
parts of the country had escalated since the signing of
the agreement.
During this period, Somalis had witnessed
either the resumption or continuation of fighting in the
capital, Mogadishu, the towns of Las Anod in the northeast
and Baidoa in the southwest, and in the Bari, Bay, Bakol,
Gedo and Lower Shabelle regions, said the press release.
It noted that Gaylard had been particularly saddened by
the killing of at least six schoolchildren in an attack
on a school bus in Mogadishu last month.
"It is a matter of deep concern that
despite the promising commitments made in October, we have
seen such an escalation in violence," Gaylard said.
"The humanitarian community stands ready to support
peace and reconciliation, but without meaningful guarantees
of safe and unhindered access, we cannot effectively deliver
aid to those who need it most. This is now the case in many
parts of the country."
The Somali groups meeting in the western Kenyan
town of Eldoret agreed on 27 October to suspend all hostilities
for the duration of the Somali national reconciliation conference,
and signed a declaration to that effect.
The UN and the international community were
still waiting for all Somali leaders to honour these commitments,
the press release noted.
[ENDS]
IRIN
Somali Peace Delegates Tossed From
Hotels
Mon Jan 6, 3:31 PM ET
By WILLIAM FARIA, Associated Press Writer
ELDORET, Kenya - Hundreds of Somalis attending
peace talks in this central Kenyan town were booted from
their hotel rooms by police Monday — a move the talks'
organizers say was needed to bring order to the often chaotic
negotiations.
For months, the Somalian factions at the talks
have bickered over the size and makeup of the delegations,
and finally impatient international mediators stepped in,
ordering more than half the estimated 800 participants to
go home.
Police spent the morning going from hotel to hotel, pounding
on doors and ordering confused and surprised Somalis from
their hotel rooms in Eldoret, 155 miles northwest of the
capital, Nairobi.
Many grumbled, but nearly all went peacefully after being
told by the leaders of their delegations that they were
indeed being sent home from the talks, which are being held
in Kenya under the auspices of the regional Intergovernmental
Authority on Development.
Elijah Mwangale, an official with the organizer, said 362
delegates are approved to take part in the second phase
of the talks.
"The final list of delegates for Phase II is out ...
Only those delegates whose names are on this final list
will be allowed to remain," Mwangale said in a statement.
"The hotels and the Kenya police have been advised
accordingly." Those being forced out will be flown
back to Somalia.
The talks — the 14th Somali peace conference since
1991 — began in October and have been flooded by delegates
representing the country's clan-based factions.
A few weeks after the talks began, Somalia's transitional
administration and key faction leaders agreed to temporarily
stop fighting and work toward setting up a federal government
to run the troubled nation, which hasn't had a central authority
since the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Since then, it's been slow going at the talks.
In the second phase of talks, smaller committees are to
work on issues like the structure of a future government
and demobilizing armed gangs.
AP.
