JEDDAH, 30 August 2003 — Foreign Minister of Somalia’s Transitional National Government Yusuf Hassan Ibrahim has denied reports that TNG President Abdi Qassim Salad will retire to Cairo when his three-year mandate ends.
“These media reports are baseless fabrications. The president will remain in office until another president is elected. To avoid a power vacuum, the TNG is the only legitimate administration in Somalia,” the minister told Arab News during a visit to the Kingdom.
The president’s term actually ended on Aug. 13 after being elected at the end of peace talks convened in neighboring Djibouti in 2000 by Somali clan leaders and civil society groups.
He said his administration had avoided any armed conflict with the country’s warlords.
“This has earned the TNG the required legitimacy to strengthen its position in regional and international organizations. The TNG has received support from Arab and African countries and the international community.
“What Somalia needs now is peaceful dialogue to end the 12-year chaos. Somalis do not need another wave of anarchy or a power vacuum,” he added.
The East African Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) is currently holding Somali peace talks in Kenya between the TNG and its armed opponents. The participants are drafting a federal constitution for Somalia, an overture to choosing members of parliament that will elect the next president.
President Salad walked out of the talks late last month and accused the organizers of the peace parley of favoring the dismemberment of Somalia.
“The president was right to pull out of the talks because the organizers of the talks have hijacked the whole process, including the drafting of the charter.
The TNG has officially declared its conditions for a return to the talks and has submitted them to Kenya, IGAD and the international community,” the minister said.
“The important point is that Somali delegates must be given overall control of the peace talks with sponsoring countries playing a facilitating role only,” Ibrahim said.
“There was no option but to suspend his participation in the conference until the issues the TNG mentioned are satisfactorily addressed.”
Asked about the legal aspects of dismissing the prime minister at the time when the TNG mandate expired, he said: “Prime Minister Hassan Abshir Farah and the speaker of parliament, who have been the TNG’s chief negotiators in the peace talks, have accepted the draft charter and other issues without consulting their administration. According to the TNG charter, the Parliament passed a vote of no confidence against them,” he said.
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Ghanim Alnajjar, United Nations expert on the human rights situation in Somalia has said the current circumstances in the country are not promising but the peace process has provided an opportunity for Somalis to show their commitment to human rights.
“Northwest Somalia (Somaliland) and northeast Somalia (Puntland) showed improvement last year, but human rights in Somalia are complicated as some regions improve one year while others deteriorate,” Alnajjar was quoted as saying by the UN Media Center on his third annual fact-finding visit to the country since June 2001. During his visit to Somalia until Sept. 1, he will look into a variety of human rights-related issues, including the state of the judicial system, law enforcement and prison conditions, child soldiers, the status of women and displaced persons.
“Right now a lot depends on the peace process. The more human rights are considered at the talks, the higher the chance of peace.
“It is an opportunity for Somalis to show their commitment to human rights,” Alnajjar said in reference to the ongoing peace talks in Kenya.
