Peace talks expected to resume in Somalia

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- The Somali national reconciliation conference is expected to reconvene this weekend in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, after a three-week hiatus.
The peace talks broke up after the reading of a draft charter -- an interim constitution -- so Somali legal experts and a Kenyan constitutional lawyer could reconcile the different views "and come up with a clean document," James Kiboi of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development told the U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks.
The proceedings were also adjourned "due to the absence of a number of prominent leaders," a member of the Somali civil Society group attending the conference told IRIN. Some of the countries underwriting the cost of the talks felt "the conference will not be broad-based enough without the presence of these people and asked IGAD to give time to bring everyone on board," added the source.
Among those absent from the talks was Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, president of Somalia's Transitional National Government

SOMALIA: Concern over food insecurity in the Sool Plateau
IRINnews Africa, Fri 12 Sep 2003
NAIROBI, - The drought-hit Sool Plateau faces increasing food insecurity, having been bypassed by rains that fell in August in other parts of northern Somalia, a food security watchdog says in its latest report.
In its September report, the Food Security Assessment Unit (FSAU) - a joint project of the EC and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation - called for "appropriate responses" from the humanitarian community.
The UN's resident and humanitarian coordinator, Max Gaylard, and acting head of the FSAU, Nick Haan, visited the Sool Plateau, located in Sanaag region, this week to investigate reports of a looming food crisis among pastoralist communities living in the drought-prone area.
"The reports suggests that a humanitarian crisis could be unfolding in the area: the visit of Mr Gaylard and Mr Haan was made to confirm that the issue is serious, and initial discussions suggest that it is" Calum McLean, head of UNOCHA-Somalia, told IRIN.
McLean went on to say that, "it is important that the humanitarian community, local authorities and communities work together to address the causes in order to prevent this crisis occurring in the future, as well as to alleviate the current problem."
A Somali agronomist told IRIN that the problems in the Sool Plateau were complicated by the fact that the area is claimed by both the self-declared republic of Somaliland and the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland. The two regions fall geographically within Somaliland, but most of the clans who live there are associated with neighbouring Puntland.
The FSAU report recommends an inter-agency emergency needs assessment to design appropriate responses to the crisis.