SOMALIA: Peace talks resume after five-day break

NAIROBI, 19 Aug 2003 (IRIN) - The Somali national reconciliation conference reconvened in the Mbagathi suburb of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday after a five-day hiatus, according to a member of its organising committee. Full report

SOMALIA: Kenyan envoy urges TNG president to return to talks

NAIROBI, 18 Aug 2003 (IRIN) - Kenyan envoy Muhammad Abdi Affey, who last week travelled to Mogadishu, said he had asked Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, the president of Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG) to return to peace talks in Nairobi. Full report

SOMALIA: Concern over low food yields in south

NAIROBI, 14 Aug 2003 (IRIN) - A food security watchdog says lower than expected cereal production has been recorded in southern Somalia due to poor and erratic rains during the April-June (Gu) season. Full report

SOMALIA: TNG hangs in the balance as mandate ends

NAIROBI, 12 Aug 2003 (IRIN) - Uncertainty hung over Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG) on Tuesday after prime minister Hassan Abshir Farah announced that the TNG's mandate would finish on Wednesday at the end of its three-year term. Full report

SOMALIA: Interim gov't says it will continue in power

NAIROBI, 11 Aug 2003 (IRIN) - Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG), whose three-year mandate ends in two days' time, has said it will stay in place until free and fair elections are held to usher in new institutions. Full report

SOMALIA: Faction leader leaves talks

NAIROBI, 6 Aug 2003 (IRIN) - Prominent Mogadishu-based faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow walked out of the Somali peace talks in Nairobi on Wednesday, saying he was unhappy over the draft charter and lack of reconciliation among leaders. Full report

SOMALIA: Plenary to debate draft charter

NAIROBI, 5 Aug 2003 (IRIN) - The plenary session of the Somali peace talks in Kenya was due to reconvene on Tuesday to debate the country's draft charter. Full report

SOMALIA: Puntland denies interfering in Somaliland's affairs

NAIROBI, 4 Aug 2003 (IRIN) - The authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, have dismissed accusations by the neighbouring self-declared republic of Somaliland that they are interfering in Somaliland's internal affairs. Full report

SOMALIA: Somaliland rejects attempts to bring it into peace talks

NAIROBI, 4 Aug 2003 (IRIN) - The authorities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland in northwestern Somalia have reiterated their rejection of attempts to bring them into the ongoing Somali reconciliation talks in Kenya. Full report

SOMALIA: Talks on course says Kenyan mediator

NAIROBI, 1 Aug 2003 (IRIN) - Ambassador Bethwel Kiplagat, the chairman of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) technical committee and Kenya’s special envoy to the Somali peace talks, told a press conference on Friday that the Somali peace talks were on course and a new Somali government should be formed soon. Full report