A high level Consultative Meeting on Ending the Transition will take place in the Mogadishu from 4 – 6 September, the United Nations political office for Somalia revealed here on Friday.
This Conference, the first major meeting in Mogadishu for four years, is expected to endorse a roadmap outlining the most important tasks for the Somali Government, Parliament and regional authorities to achieve in the next 12 months.
The Conference will comprise representatives from the Transitional Federal Government, Transitional Federal Parliament, Puntland, Galmudug and Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a and will be the first in a series.
The opening of the meeting on Sunday 4 September will followed by a discussion on the ongoing drought and famine. The second and third days will concentrate on the roadmap which is expected to be endorsed on 6 September. The meetings will be held at Parliament and at Mogadishu Airport.
The roadmap is the latest example of steady political progress, including the Djibouti Agreement and the Kampala Accord aimed at restoring a peaceful, functioning Somali state. The next such Meeting will take place before the end of October with a majority of members from civil society.
According to the draft Roadmap a final draft of the Constitution should be agreed in the course of the next 12 months to clarify the future political system including elections, and enshrine basic human rights. There should also be agreement on the National Security and Stabilisation Plan as well as legislation on piracy, steps to make Parliament more effective, preparations for elections for the President and Speaker within 12 months and measures to enhance good governance.
The Roadmap follows the Kampala Accord, signed on 9 June 2011. Under the Accord the President of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and the Speaker of Parliament, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, undertook to “work together with the international community to establish a Roadmap with benchmarks, timelines and compliance mechanisms for the implementation of the priority tasks”.
Somali Prime minister Abdi Weli Mohamed Ali said earlier in the week that the first phase of the consultative meeting will be held in Mogadishu, while the second phase will be hosted in Puntland’s capital Garowe.
The announcement marked the end of months-long political misunderstanding between the Puntland regional state and the transitional federal government of Somalia.