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Diplomat Tells IGAD To Review Document
Nairobi, September 30, 2003 (The Nation) – A former UN diplomat for Somalia has appealed to the Igad technical committee mediating Somalia's reconciliation, to re-examine the disputed draft federal charter that has divided the main actors in the forum.
The diplomat also wants Igad to address Djibouti's weekend withdrawal from the talks.
Mr. Abdullahi Ahmed Adou, who was once Somali ambassador to the UN, yesterday asked the technical committee to address the two issues as a matter of priority.
Djibouti walked out of the 11-month-old talks, citing lack of neutrality on the part of the technical committee.
Its envoy for Somalia, Mr. Ismail Goulal, said Igad had failed to act impartially and make the talks all inclusive.
He, however, said Djibouti was ready to return if the anomalies were addressed.
Djibouti is a member of the Frontline States which, alongside Kenya and Ethiopia, comprise the core group involved in the Nairobi mediation.
Its withdrawal dealt another major blow to the forum already assaulted by last month's departure of Dr Abdiqassim Salat Hassan, the president of the Somali transitional national government and his allies.
Dr Hassan and his allies claimed the federalist charter was incurably flawed for depreciating the place of Arabic and Islam in Somali society. They also accused Igad of succumbing to an Ethiopia-inspired scheme to dismember Somalia.
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