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Somalia: Peace Talks Today
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The East African Standard (Nairobi)
29 April 2008
Posted to the web 28 April 2008
Isaac Ongiri
Nairobi
Stakeholders in the Somali peace process will meet in Oslo, Norway, today.
The meeting, convened by the International Somalia Contact Group (ICG), is expected to discuss the humanitarian and security situation to step up reconciliation efforts and restoration of peace.
The Kenyan delegation to the talks is led by Foreign Affairs Assistant minister, Mr Richard Onyonka.
Onyonka, who arrived in Oslo yesterday, told The Standard that the meeting is expected to bring together the warring factions in Somalia and address insecurity in Mogadishu.
The exiled leader of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS), Mr Sheikh Sharrif Ahmed, and members of his party, are expected to meet with officials of the Transitional Government of Somalia, led by Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein.
The ICG forum is also expected to endorse the UN Secretary-General's special representative, Mr Ahmedou Abdallah, as the chief mediator in the Somalia peace process.
Ahmed, who fled Somali, is leaving in exile in the Eritrean capital Asmara.
The minister said the forum would iron out differences between the new Somalia PM and President Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed.
"Kenya has been involved in the Somali conflict and we shall make sure we make use of every opportunity to restore peace in Somalia," Onyonka said.
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The meeting that brings together Tanzania, the European Union, Italy, United Kingdom, Sweden and the US comes at a time when the world has ranked the Somali Coast as the second most dangerous on earth.
An ICG report has indicated that there was increased insecurity last year, with 31 cases reported and another 10 since the beginning of the year.
Early in the month, a Spanish ship was captured in the Indian Ocean within Somalia waters and is still being held.
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