Speaker in Somalia's Transitional Federal Government Repeats Call for Dialogue at Meeting of International Community in Nairobi, Kenya

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The Speaker in Somalia's Parliament, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, asked the Secretary General's Special Representative for Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, to chair a meeting of the International Community in Nairobi this afternoon to amplify his call for peaceful dialogue to resolve a dispute over the relocation of the Transitional Federal Government.

Sheik Aden, some cabinet members and a large number of Parliamentarians, have based themselves in Mogadishu, insisting that the Government led by Somali President, Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed and his Prime Minister, Ali Mohammed Gedi, relocate there. The President and Prime Minister however argue that the Capital is insecure and that until security can be assured, the town of Jowhar, some 55 miles north, should be the temporary seat of Government and the nation's institutions.

At today's meeting, the Speaker reiterated his call for peaceful dialogue under United Nations auspices and said he would be ready to attend a meeting to discuss his differences with the President and Prime Minister at a time and place of the UN Special Representative's choosing. He also called on the International Community to impress upon the President and Prime Minister, the urgent need for dialogue.

Some members of the International Community expressed the view that both sides needed to be more concrete in any future dialogue and should meet as soon as possible.

The UN Special Representative said he was encouraged by the Speaker's repetition of his desire to dialogue before the whole international community at the meeting. He noted that the Prime Minister had also recently indicated a desire for dialogue. “I hope to discuss modalities with the Prime Minister in the coming days,” he said.

Those attending today's meeting included representatives of Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, United States, United Kingdom, and a consortium of International NGOs focused on reconciliation and reintegration in Somalia.

For more information please contact: UN Political Office for Somalia(Nairobi, Kenya) Tel. +254 20 762 21 31 Please visit: www.UN-Somalia.org