The Somalia Peace Negotiations (Eldoret and Nairobi, Kenya)

Project Leaders:

Gina El Koury in Kenya/Somalia and Patricia L. Taft in Washington, D.C.

The Group has been advising a party to the Somalia peace talks since August of 2002. A member of the Group has maintained a continuous presence in Eldoret and Nairobi, Kenya where the current round of negotiations are underway. She has also made frequent trips to the capital city of Mogadishu and the southern province of Merka. As mandated by a United Nations-brokered arrangement in 2000, the authority of the Somalia Transitional National Government will formally come to an end in August, 2003, with the current negotiations set to determine a new government for Somalia. A three-phased process, the negotiations are presently drawing to a close in Nairobi and are scheduled to open again in the summer of 2003. The Group has provided key legal briefing papers to the delegation on matters concerning a cease-fire; constitutional structures; the return of refugees and internally displaced persons; the protection of human rights; the demobilization, decommissioning and reintegration of former combatants; economic development; the establishment of a World Bank trust fund; and environmental matters.

For background information on the talks, please see:

PILPG Field Reports:

Gina El Koury, Somalia: "Black Hawk Down No More", (Field Report, April 2002).

For access to the PILPG briefing book, please click here

The International Crisis Group Online:

“Somalia: Countering Terrorism in a Failed State” May, 2002.
Available at: www.crisisweb.org/projects/showreport.cfm?reportid=662

“Salvaging Somalia’s Chance for Peace” December, 2002.
Available at: www.crisisweb.org/projects/showreport.cfm?reportid=839

“Negotiating a Blueprint for Peace in Somalia” March, 2003
Available at: www.crisisweb.org/projects/showreport.cfm?reportid=911

Also, for current news on Somalia please visit:
www.allafrica.com/somalia