Somalia Parties Get Closer on Political Dealings

UN Envoy to Somalia Welcomes News That Parties Get Closer on Political Dealings, Urges Talks

New York, Aug 7 2006 5:00PM

Praising Ethiopia’s mediation efforts this weekend between the various parties in strife-torn Somalia, the senior United Nations envoy to the Horn of Africa country said today he was encouraged by recent reports from the seat of the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) in Baidoa, and called on all sides to resume negotiations begun in June.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, François Lonsény Fall, welcomed news from Baidoa that the leaders of the TFIs have agreed to put aside their differences over future dealings with the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts, a UN spokesman said.

“Mr. Fall praised this weekend’s mediation efforts by the Ethiopian Government and urged all the Somali parties to agree on an early date to resume the dialogue begun in Khartoum on 20 June. Mr. Fall added that unity within the Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) is crucially important for the whole process,” Farhan Haq told reporters in New York.

Last week Mr. Fall said the political process in Somalia was now in a “critical stage,” and he has repeatedly stressed the importance of dialogue between the Transitional Federal Government and the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts, whose forces recently took over the Somali capital Mogadishu. The impoverished country has not had a functioning government since 1991.

ENDS

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