Baidoa, Somalia - The main rivals in Somalia's divided transitional government pledged on Monday to work together for peace in the lawless nation as parliament prepares to meet for the first time on Somali soil.
After three days of talks, President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi and parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan agreed to a pact aimed at restoring badly shaken confidence in their leadership.
Meeting in the central town of Galkayo, the three most powerful officials in the deeply split administration set out a seven-point declaration urging a resolution to differences that have sparked fears of greater chaos in Somalia.
This called for a successful all-inclusive first session of the 275-member legislature on home territory in the town of Baidoa on February 26, invited foreign observers to the meeting and agreed the parties would work together to promote security and stability.
"The president, the parliament speaker and the premier should work jointly, in order to create confidence in the Somali population," they said, adding that they would also work for "for clemency, harmony and unity for the Somali people."
In addition, the trio urged an end to factional clashes throughout the country and appealed for international aid to help Somalis threatened by a searing drought that has put millions at risk of famine in East Africa.
A deep rift over the seat of government between a faction led by Yusuf and Gedi and another led by Adan and the warlords who control Mogadishu had prevented the lawmakers from meeting since they left exile in Kenya last year.
Under heavy international pressure the two camps agreed to a compromise last month whereby the parliament will meet in Baidoa, about 250km west of Mogadishu, but details had remained to be worked out.
Somalia has been without a functioning central government for nearly 15 years and Yusuf's government is the latest in more than a dozen attempts to restore stability to the nation, which has been affected by warlord-fuelled violence since the 1991 ousting of strongman Mohammed Siad Barre. - Sapa-AFP