Migadishu — A United Nations-backed gathering seeking further progress towards expanding the Somali Parliament and electing a new president of Somalia have begun on Sunday in neighboring Djibouti.

Somali legislators have gathered in Djibouti to discuss amendment of the transitional charter to enlarge the parliament.

The opposition leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed addressed the parliamentarians and called for them to save the country.

He also condemned the suicide attack which killed 16 civilians in the capital Mogadishu on Saturday.

The event is expected to result in the enlargement of the Somali Parliament and election of a new president in keeping with the Somali Transitional Federal Charter by 28 January.

The new president is to then appoint a Prime Minister who in turn will form a government after being sworn in to the position.

Violence has continued in Somalia despite the signing in June 2008 of the UN-facilitated Djibouti Agreement by the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS), in which they agreed to end the conflict.

Last October, both parties agreed on the outline of forming a Government of National Unity and expanding the Parliament, and the principles were endorsed by the Transitional Federal Parliament.

Somalia, which has not had a functioning national government since 1991, has been plagued by fighting and humanitarian suffering for decades. Continuing instability, coupled with drought, high food prices and the collapse of the local currency have worsened the dire humanitarian situation in recent months.