National Reconciliation Conference in Somalia 2007

The 2007 Somalia National Reconciliation Conference took place in Mogadishu from July 15 to August 30, 2007 . The conference with around 1,300 participants was intended to help stabilize Somalia and end the Somali civil war that has been going on since 1988 . The conference was overshadowed by local violence and produced modest results.

prehistory

Since the Union of Islamic Courts was ousted by Ethiopian troops and the Somali interim government in late 2006 , it had not been possible to establish a lasting peace. In the first half of 2007, fierce fighting broke out in Mogadishu between troops loyal to the government on the one hand and Islamist and Hawiye fighters on the other, which drove hundreds of thousands to flight. The National Reconciliation Conference had therefore been planned since March 2007, also under pressure from the EU as an important donor of the transitional government. It has often been described as the last chance for the interim government of President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed to create peace.

The reconciliation conference was initially planned for the period from April 16 to mid-June, but had to be postponed several times for security reasons and because of boycott threats from important parties - especially representatives of the Hawiye clan, which is powerful in Mogadishu. The originally planned number of 3,000 participants also had to be reduced to around 1,300.

Attendees

More than 1000 elders of the traditionally important Somali clans took part, as well as former warlords , politicians and foreign representatives.

The Abgal subclan of the Hawiye took part, while the Ayr, an influential subclan of the Habar-Gedir-Hawiye, stayed away. Moderate representatives of the Union of Islamic Courts from exile in Eritrea were invited, but boycotted the conference because it was taking place in non-neutral territory under the continued Ethiopian military presence. Instead, later in September, critics and opponents of Ethiopia and the transitional government held a “counter-conference” in Asmara, Eritrea, with the main aim of driving the “invader from Addis Ababa ”. This resulted in the establishment of the Alliance for the Liberation of Somalia . Militant Islamists, opponents of Ethiopia and the transitional government threatened with violence. Interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed assured, however, that the National Reconciliation Conference would take place "even in the event of an atomic bomb attack".

Civil society organizations were not invited and criticized the conference for focusing on clan conflicts while not addressing political divisions. They called for greater involvement of critics and opponents of the transitional government, such as the political wing of the Union of Islamic Courts. The United Nations, the United States and the Arab League expressed their support for the conference.

The north of Somalia or Somaliland , which has been de facto independent since 1991, refused to participate.

course

The National Governance and Reconciliation Commission organized the National Reconciliation Conference, which took place under tight security in northern Mogadishu. There were eleven items on the agenda, including clan conflicts and holding elections.

Soon after its opening on July 15, the conference was canceled until July 19 to give the expected delegates more time to travel; of the expected 1,300 participants, only 900 had reached the conference, partly because of financial problems.

The conference was overshadowed by violence from the start. Militant opponents of the transitional government carried out attacks on the conference site and in the surrounding area and fought with troops loyal to the government in Bakara Market and other parts of the city. From the beginning of the conference until July 23, a new escalation of violence between government troops and their opponents drove 10,000 people to flee Mogadishu, according to the UN. By July 24, the number of newly displaced persons had risen to 21,000, and since the beginning of 2007 around 400,000 had fled fighting in Mogadishu.

On August 19, Maalim Harun Maalim Yusuf , an elder of the Abgal- Hawiye clan and key negotiator at the conference, was shot dead by unknown persons in Mogadishu. Heavy fighting then broke out in the Horuwa district. The conference ended on August 30th in the presence of high-ranking diplomats.

Results

The reconciliation conference brought modest results. These include provisions for a ceasefire between clans and the distribution of the income from the country's natural resources, as well as plans for elections in 2009.

See also

• UN Security Council resolution 1772
• Somali Civil War , Somali Politics

Web links

• taz.de: Somalia: “Reconciliation” and skirmishes
• taz.de: Targetless debates among clan leaders (comment)
• Interview about the conference at derStandard.at
• Shabelle Media Network with pictures of the conference

swell

• Tagesschau.de: Last chance for lasting peace (tagesschau.de archive)
• BBC News: Somali talks 'will be boycotted'
• BBC News: Security raised for Somali forum
• People's Daily Online: Somalia on eve of long-awaited reconciliation conference
• Shabelle Media Network: Somalia peace talks continues smoothly
• IRIN News: Somalia: Opinions mixed as reconciliation conference winds up

1. ↑ SomaliNet: Somalia: Government reveals the date for the national conference ( Memento of the original from February 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ^ People's Daily Online: Reconciliation conference to go ahead: Somali president
3. ^ WG Peace Research Uni Kassel / Young World: Against the "intruder from Addis Ababa"
4. ↑ Shabelle Media Network: Arab League pleased with Somalia's reconciliation congress ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ Shabelle Media Network: Somali civil society groups boycott the reconciliation congress ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ Shabelle Media Network: Somaliland boycotts to attend the reconciliation conference ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ BBC News: Somalis flee as attacks escalate
8. ↑ DiePresse.com: Mass exodus from Somali capital continues
9. ↑ Al Jazeera Deutsch: Somali clan elder shot dead
10. ↑ Somali reconciliation congress wraps up Shabelle Media Network: Somali reconciliation congress wraps up ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.