UN representative to Somalia
concerned by slow political transition, wants deadlines met
By Associated Press, Published: August 26
KAMPALA, Uganda — The U.N.
representative to Somalia said he is “deeply concerned by the ongoing delays”
in choosing all the 275 members of parliament who will select a new Somali
president.
Somali
elders must select the legislators ahead of the planned election on Aug. 28 of
a speaker and a deputy, U.N. Special Representative Augustine Mahiga said on
Saturday.
Mahiga said there
was no “time for delay,” and urged the technical committee and elders compiling
the list of parliamentarians to “continue working together in a spirit of
mutual trust and flexibility to fulfill their responsibilities as defined in
the protocols.”
In an exercise
praised by the U.N. as a “watershed moment” in Somalia’s road to peace and
stability, 215 Somali lawmakers were sworn in on Aug. 20, the day the mandate
of Somalia’s eight-year-old caretaker government expired. It also was the day a
new president was to be selected, but those hopes were dashed by political
bickering, seat-buying schemes and threats of violence.
Somalia’s intricate
clan politics and loyalties must be navigated in the selection of the country’s
next leaders. A clan that wins the post of speaker, for example, is not
eligible to get the presidency. Somali elders are tasked with naming a full
parliament, since a general election is impossible because of the country’s
chronic insecurity.
The current
political process has been undemocratic, “with unprecedented levels of
political interference, corruption and intimidation,” according to the
International Crisis Group.
It remains unclear
when a new president will be sworn in. Nick Birnback, a spokesman for the U.N.
mission to Somalia, said last week that this would happen later in August or in
early September. But the International Crisis Group predicted that it would not
be until October that a full government is seated. After the president is
elected, he must appoint a prime minister who then assembles a Cabinet.
Somalia, which has
lacked a stable government since 1991, has seen improved stability recently as
government forces and African Union troops pushed the al-Shabab militants out
of the capital Mogadishu in August 2011. Although there is the occasional
terrorist attack, the city is returning to life.
Copyright 2012 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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