Odhiambo Orlale
10 January 2004
Nairobi — Somali warlords yesterday kept Presidents Mwai Kibaki and Yoweri Museveni waiting for six hours in a Nairobi hotel before agreeing to resume peace talks.
The 20 factional leaders boycotted the 11am meeting and only agreed to return to the negotiation table at 5pm.
President Kibaki was first to arrive at the Safari Park Hotel and went directly to the private room reserved for VIPs. He was joined 10 minutes later by the Ugandan leader.
They had been consulting for 20 minutes before they learnt that none of the Somali leaders were in the conference room.
President Museveni, currently the chairman of the Inter Governmental Authority on Development, then set up camp in an adjacent meeting room, where he spent the next five hours holding informal talks with the warlords individually and in groups.
Meanwhile, President Kibaki was said to be holding meetings with State House and Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials. Minister Kalonzo Musyoka ended up playing the role of emissary between the two Presidents as the hours ticked by.
Four other warlords - Muse Sudi Yalakow, Osman Ali Atto, Barre Hirale and Abdirizak Bihi - stayed at home in Somalia. They sent junior deputies to represent them. The interim president of the transitional government, Mr Abdikasim Salat Hassan, also was not present.
As the impasse dragged out, President Museveni laboured to convince the warlords to support the peace process, which had stalled for the past three months.
The atmosphere was tense as supporters of the various factions spoke in groups outside the conference rooms as their bosses were locked up in the closed-door meetings.
Yesterday's meeting was meant to launch a 10-day retreat to enable the Somali leaders to come up with a power-sharing arrangement. Their country has been without a government for the past 13 years.
Mr Museveni's negotiating skills paid dividends by 5pm, when most of the Somali leaders began trooping back to the negotiation table. Igad has sponsored the 14-month peace talks taking place in Kenya.
Presidents Kibaki and Museveni reminded the feuding Somali leaders that the regional leaders and the international community were not ready to see the Horn of Africa country continue being ravaged by a civil war fuelled by sefish leaders.
Said Mr Museveni: "What is happening in Somalia is genocide in slow motion. I believe that what it needs is a permanent peace to be restored; the formation of a government of national unity with one army; and the restoration of sovereignty of the Somali people."
He made a passionate appeal to the warring leaders to unite and resolve their differences through dialogue, adding that the civil war had led to the death, maiming and destruction of property of the Somali people.
"You should dialogue and stop this big shame in Africa that has gone on for over a decade," he said before inviting them to shake hands as a sign of unity and goodwill. The guests clapped and ululated.
President Kibaki assured the Somali leaders and the international community that the Government would remain committed to the peace efforts by playing the role of honest broker.
"I look forward to the day Somalia will regain its status in the international community," he said. "This can best be achieved through dialogue and not violence, suspicion and hostility."
Delegates to the talks had earlier expressed dismay at the boycott.
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