A peace conference planned for next month to help Somalia heal after more than 16 years of chaos is in jeopardy because of lack of funds, the chairperson of the talks said on Tuesday.
The conference, already delayed twice because of violence in the capital, Mogadishu, has been scheduled for June 16.
Chairperson Ali Mahdi Mohamed said, however, that he was still waiting for the $7,5-million donors have pledged for the talks.
”We have been getting pledges from the international donor countries, but little has so far been paid,” he said.
It was not clear if the talks would be delayed again, but Mohamed said he would be able to accommodate only 1 300 delegates — down from a planned 3 000.
”Owing to the lack of proper funding and other technical problems, we have decided to decrease the number of the representatives,” he said.
Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned against each other. The current administration, called the Transitional Federal Government, was established in 2004 with backing from the United Nations, but has struggled to assert control.
Just weeks ago, the government, backed by troops from neighbouring Ethiopia, declared victory over Islamic insurgents who have vowed to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla war unless the country becomes an Islamic state.
The insurgents are linked to the Council of Islamic Courts, which ruled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for six quiet months last year. The group was ousted in December, but an insurgency soon erupted.
The battles killed at least 1 670 people between March 12 and April 26 and drove about a fifth of Mogadishu’s two million residents to flee for safety.
On Tuesday, Mohamed echoed President Abdullahi Yusuf’s earlier pledge that Islamists can participate in the conference as long as they are selected by their clans and renounce violence.
In the past, Somali government officials have refused to invite representatives from the Council of Islamic Courts.
”The members of the Islamic council are Somalis, so for that reason we cannot exclude them if they are ready for peace,” Mohamed said. — Sapa-AP