The Somali
Transitional National Assembly (TNA) held its first meeting
in Djibouti on Monday, chaired by General Mohamed Abshire
Muse.
Under
the new Somalia Charter, the TNA is to be chaired by the eldest
member of the parliament until an assembly speaker is successfully
elected, sources in Djibouti told IRIN. General Abshire, a
74 year-old former police chief from northeast Somalia, is
a factional rival of Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf, leader of the
self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, who has rejected
the process.
Nominated
members to the TNA are still being sworn in at the Djibouti-hosted
Somali National Peace Talks, held in Arta, about 30 km from
Djibouti city. Many of the nominated members are from the
huge Somali diaspora, and have been called to Djibouti, sources
close to the conference said.
The first
task of the assembly is to begin drawing up an agenda and
deal with the process of electing its officers, TNA member
Hussein Iman told IRIN from Djibouti. Once this process has
been completed, the TNA will tackle the election of a president.
"That's
when the real business of power-sharing starts, and it will
be tough", one delegate told IRIN.
Disputes
continue over the clan-based allocation of seats. Within the
main Darod clan, the sub-clans of Lelkase (two seats), Warsangali
(three seats) and Dashiiashle (one seat) have refused to accept
their share.
The Murusade
sub-clan of the main Hawiye group has also refused to accept
an allocation of four seats, conference sources told IRIN.
SOMALIA:
Military leader causes discontent
A contingent
of 150 delegates from the main Digil-Mirifle clan has threatened
to leave the talks, sources at the conference told IRIN.
The 150
delegates support a list submitted by Abdullahi Deerow, secretary-general
of the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA), which was rejected
in favour of a list handed in by the RRA military leader,
Hassan Mohamed Nur "Shatigadud".
The RRA
control the Bay and Bakool region, including Baidoa, chosen
by the conference as the temporary capital for the newly-elected
transitional authority.
Deerow's
list represented "the intelligentsia" and had a more equal
distribution of Digil and Mirifle sub-clans, delegates at
the conference told IRIN. Deroow was also willing to negotiate
power-sharing with another main clan, the Hawiye, diplomatic
sources said.
However,
accepting "Shatigudud's" list was vital to the success of
the conference, taking into consideration the territory controlled
by his militia, the sources added.
"Shatigudud"
is also known to be backed by the Ethiopian government, which
last week put pressure on Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf, leader
of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, to end
his boycott of the talks.
SOMALIA:
Peace talks affect exchange rate
The inauguration
of a new Somali parliament has had a favourable effect on
the rate of the shilling in Mogadishu.
On Sunday,
when the newly elected Transitional National Assembly was
sworn in, the dollar opened at 9,600 shillings and it closed
at the end of the day at 8,200 shillings. By Tuesday, the
shilling was exchanging at 9,000 to the dollar, Professor
Mohamed Ali Abukar, a UNDP Mogadishu-based economist, told
IRIN.
According
to Professor Abukar, the exchange rate in Mogadishu is determined
mainly by supply and demand but has recently been affected
by the progress of peace talks in Djibouti.
"At times
the market operates exactly like Wall Street and forecasts
political events that may affect the market, like the Djibouti
conference," Professor Abukar said. Whenever there is some
progress in the talks, the dollar loses ground, he said.
"Due to
the fluctuations of the money markets, business people wait
for a few days to watch the trend of the exchange rate before
the prices of goods are adjusted accordingly."
Other
events that affect the Mogadishu exchange rate are large amounts
of remittance money from the Somali diaspora, which tend to
come into the market at the end of the month, he added.
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