Posted by At the end of three-day talks in Djibouti, delegates from the Somali Transitional Federal Government and the Islamist-dominated Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia have signed a power sharing agreement on Tuesday night.
The deal will pave the way for the formation of 550-member parliament which will elect a new Somali president, as the signed document highlights.
Abdurahman Abndi Shakur Warsame, who was leading the ARS delegation, told reporters that both sides agreed to expand the membership of the Somali parliament from 275 to 550 members, of whom half will come from the opposition ARS based in Djibouti.
“We are very hopeful that the new deal will pave the way for a national unity government of Somalia,†said Mr. Warsame who talked to reporters in Djibouti early on Wednesday morning, adding that 200 of the new members will come from the Alliance while 75 members will come from civil society groups, the Diaspora and independent politicians.
Mr. Warsame said the enlarged parliament will be assembled within one month and then will work to elect a new president who will appoint a new prime minister to form a government that will last for two years and then free and fair elections will be organized in Somalia at the end of the 2-year transition period.
The Somali government and the ARS have previously reached a series of agreements, the latest of which was a ceasefire agreement and the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from specific areas in Mogadishu, but not a single of those agreements was implemented.
However, the ARS delegation head said that his group was very hopeful that the Ethiopian forces will fully pull out of Somalia as indicated in earlier agreements.
Source African Press Agency
