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DJIBOUTI, 22 Jul 2004 (IRIN) - President Ismail Omar Guelleh of
Djibouti on Thursday hailed the ongoing Somali peace process in
Kenya, and urged Somali business leaders to support it as the
negotiators start the final phase of deliberations.
Speaking at a meeting with the Somalis in the capital, Djibouti
Ville, Guelleh said: "We are indeed heartened by the progress made in
the current peace process in Mbagathi, Kenya, [but] the real
challenges of the transition lie ahead, and comprehensive disarmament
is the most crucial among them."
The meeting, held as part of the third and final phase of the Somali
National Reconciliation Conference, discussed the role of the Somali
business community in the stabilization of the country during the
transitional period.
A joint statement issued at the end of the meeting said the business
leaders had agreed to help in the establishment of a secure
environment, including a ceasefire, containment of heavy weapons,
demilitarization, demobilization, and reintegration of fighters.
They also expressed their commitment to Security Council Resolution
792 (1992), which imposed an arms embargo on Somalia.
The participants "highlighted their imperative role in the political
and economic reconstruction of Somalia, and expressed their strong
desire to fully employ all their capacities to consolidate a
constructive cycle of economic recovery", the statement said. "They
expressed a desire for the transitional institutions to adopt
policies supporting a free-market economy and regional economic
integration."
It added that they had "expressed their deepest concern over the
long-term damage caused to the Somali economy and ecology by the
dumping of toxic waste, export of charcoal, and export of female
livestock". They also requested that the ban on Somali livestock
exports [to the Arabian peninsula] be lifted and assets of thousands
of Somali businesses and households in Al Barakat [money transfer
agency] be unfrozen [as a result of a ban imposed by the US].
The meeting was attended by Djiboutian Foreign Minister Ali Abdi
Farah; Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin; the Kenyan
environment and natural resources minister and the leading mediator
in the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development's
ministerial facilitation committee, Kalonzo Musyoka; Kenyan Assistant
Foreign Minister Mirugi Kariuki; Kenyan Special Envoy for Somalia
Bethuel Kiplagat; and Babafemi Badejo of the UN Political Office for
Somalia.
On the fringes of the two-day meeting, businessmen told IRIN how much
they wanted peace, but noted that it would be difficult to disarm
completely until they had total confidence in the ability of any
future government to provide them with the necessary security.
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