Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Samir Hosni, who deals with African affairs at the league, told Reuters that the Somali government had asked for the delay because of security conditions in Somalia.
The proposed reconciliation conference is the main domestic political initiative to end a conflict in which more than 1,000 people were killed between March 29 and April 1.
The fighting is between the weak Ethiopian-backed government of Somalia and insurgents who include Islamist fighters and militia from the dominant Hawiye clan, who oppose the presence of troops from Ethiopia.
Hosni said that members of the Islamic Courts Union, the Islamist group which ran the capital Mogadishu before the Ethiopian intervention last year, could attend the conference through other groups.
"The moderate wings can take part in the conference through the Somali clans or through civil society," he said.
A preparatory committee which met on Tuesday called on the international community to contribute $32 million to finance the reconciliation conference, Hosni added.
Diplomats say the conference is the government's only chance to gain the legitimacy it needs to govern Somalia.
Source: Reuters, Apirl 11,2007