JEDDAH, 29 August — A meeting of the foreign ministers of Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya to discuss the Somali peace process has been postponed until sometime next week, a press report said on Monday. The three countries, which all border Somalia, have been mandated by the East African body of Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to organize the Somali peace talks. The talks are scheduled to open on Sept. 16 in Eldoret, Kenya.

The sources, however, said that the delay in holding the IGAD ministerial meeting would affect the convening of the talks. It is reported that most ministers are currently attending the Earth Summit in Johannesburg. The talks, which are expected to bring together the Transitional National Government (TNG) and Somali warlords were originally scheduled to take place in April.

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A third consecutive year of below normal rainfall in northern Somalia has caused a significant decline in animal reproduction, a USAID report said on Tuesday.

According to a UN humanitarian publication, USAID’s Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) said these conditions exist in the grazing lands of the Sool Plateau where the reproduction rates of sheep, goats, cattle and camels have dropped by 44 percent, 77 percent, and 90 percent respectively compared to a normal year.

“Despite the decline, however, the continuing import ban on livestock from Somalia to the Gulf states has caused an oversupply of animals in local markets, which in turn serve to depress prices. This resulted in unfavorable terms of trade for pasturalists. If the clan fighting extends to the neighboring sorghum-producing belt during this critical stage of crop harvest, it could further hamper harvesting and exert a negative impact on food security throughout Somalia,” FEWS noted.

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Somali non-governmental organizations and human rights groups at the weekend accused Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed, Puntland leader, of assassinating Suldan Ahmed Mohammed Hurre, a prominent traditional leader in the region. Hurre was killed early last week. The chief of Ahmed’s Cabinet, Ismail Warsame, told reporters last week that the killing was accidental. “Suldan Hurre was targeted for arrest by the Puntland security forces because of his association with extremist elements. He died in a shoot-out between his guards and security forces who were trying to apprehend him.”