The Somali
currency has been strengthening as hopes for the establishment
of a new Somali government increased with the proceeding of
the Djibouti peace conference.
The Somali
currency was exchanged at 9, 500 shillings to one U. S. dollar
on Tuesday, compared with 10,040 shillings to a dollar four
days ago.
Three
months before the Djibouti conference began, the shilling
had been exchanged at 11,500 to one dollar, but it has been
steadily gaining ground with the progress of the Djibouti
conference.
Many currency
dealers attributed the appreciation of the shilling to the
growing optimism that a government is now in sight for Somalia.
Despite
the rising trend, there have been big fluctuations in the
currency since many worried that the peace conference might
fail as none of the 12 previous meetings produced any results.
"Twelve
previous meetings had ended up in failure after the foreign
governments interested in Somali affairs had proved their
disagreement over how the Somali crises would be settled,"
said Mohamed Ali Mohamud, a money dealer in Bakara market.
The dealer
said, "The confusion has made us worry and the currency to
fluctuate."
The goal
of the Djibouti peace conference which started in early May
is to choose a 225-member parliament, prime minister and president,
hopefully by the end of this month.
Warlords,
each backed by ragtag militias, have ruled over the splintered
pieces of Somalia since the January 1991 ouster of Mohamed
Siad Barre, the dictator who ruled the Horn of Africa nation
for 21 years. Since then, no central government has been put
in place.
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