Somalia leaders sign ‘roadmap’

Somalia’s disparate leaders signed yesterday a “roadmap” for the formation of a government to replace the fragile transitional body that has failed to bring peace to the fragmented country.

“We are clearly committed to implement this roadmap, the Somali people have suffered a lot,” said Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed after three days of talks at a heavily-guarded conference venue in Mogadishu.

“We want the Somali people to be secure, to lead them to prosperity,” Mr Ahmed added.

The new political deal focuses on improving security in Mogadishu and other areas in southern Somalia, national reconciliation, a draft charter, governance and institutional reforms.

Somalia’s Prime Minister, as well as representatives of the breakaway Puntland region, the central Galmudug region and the pro-government militia Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa signed the deal under UN auspices.

The agreement is the latest among more than a dozen attempts to resolve Somalia’s more than two decade-old civil war, with the country split between rival factions and host to pirate gangs who hijack ships far across the Indian Ocean.

Constant political wrangles and a bloody Islamist insurgency have undermined Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which has been unable to carry out its key mandate of reconciling the country, writing a new constitution and organising elections.