Somalia reconciliation talks to be held – UN

June 8, 2007 (NAIROBI) — A senior United Nations official said Friday he was confident that a Somalia reconciliation conference would take place in the capital Mogadishu but said that the date of June 14 might be put back.

“It is really critical that it occurs and I got the strong sense that it is going to occur,” UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe told reporters in Nairobi after a day trip the Somalian capital.

“I think it definitely will take place and they are working very hard to do it on the 14th. They are trying to gather all the delegates on the 13th,” he said.

“How much and what they are going to do on the 14th is something I’m not sure of at this point.

“Logistics may cause it to slide just slightly but at this point they are trying very hard to have it on the 14th,” he said.

“But let me just say one other thing: the critical thing is that it happens, not whether it is on Monday or … a week afterwards.”

In Mogadishu, Pascoe met Somalian President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi as well as the president of the committee organising the reconciliation conference Ali Mahdi.

The Somalian government has been pressured by the international community into holding the conference in another bid to end the civil war raging since 1991.

According to Pascoe “on the question of terrorism presence generally, it is known that there is some, there is no question about that. It is one of the problems of the country.”

He called for the rapid deployment of more African Union peacekeeping forces while recognising “that it is not only a matter of forces … but there is a serious question of funding mechanism which has not been resolved.”

Pascoe is due over the weekend in Eritrea to see President Issaias Afeworki and in Ethiopia to hold talks with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the president of the African Union commission Alpha Oumar Konare.

(AFP)