Somalis Meet to Decide on Their Country's Future

By Shafi'i Mohyaddin Abokar

The long-awaited Somali consultative meeting opened on Sunday in the capital Mogadishu with the attendance of representatives from the federal government, regional autonomies and the Moderate Islamist group of Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama'a.

The president of the transitional federal government {TFG} of Somalia Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed has officially opened the consultative meeting on the country's future at the peoples Mansion in Mogadishu.

"I am really very grateful to all parts in the meeting for their acceptance to come here to decide on our country's future-I see signs of ending the long-running lawlessness and lack of a functioning central government in Somalia," president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed said at the opening ceremony.

He said that the United Nations and the African Union are also praise worthy for their long-existed efforts to realize the meeting to peacefully occur in the country.

"We wouldn't have met here safely without the joint forces of the African Union and those of the Somali government who have stood day and night to pacify the country and end the terrorist elements in Mogadishu-they are still working on how to oust terrorists out of the whole country," the president noted.

During his opening remarks the president outlined some of the agendas of the consultative meeting which included: finalizing the country's constitution, the role of regional autonomies in the federal government of Somalia, good governance and tightening security in the whole country.

This is the first phase of the meeting and the second phase will be held in an unspecified future time in Garowe the provincial capital of the Puntland state which last year hosted the Somali regional football tournament for peace and development, the first such soccer competition to be held in the lawless country in more than 22 years.

Shafi'i Mohyaddin Abokar is the NewsBlaze Somalia reporter. Contact him through NewsBlaze.