• Essential Documents

  

  

  Somali National Reconciliation Conference Decisions, September 2007

  Published August 30, 2007

  
  The following agreements and suggestions of the Somali National Reconciliation Congress were decided upon from July 5 - September 30, 2007.

  THE CONCLUDED DECISIONS AND SUGGESTIONS OF THE NATIONAL RECONCILIATION CONGRESS

  Mogadishu 15/07/2007 – 30/08/2007

  1. Resolution of the Somali Clan Disagreements/Disputes

  DECISIONS OF THE CONGRESS: -

  1. To recognize 1^st August 2007as the termination date of the Somali civil war that continued during 1978 up to 2007 and that the entire Somali clans declared reciprocal forgiveness to each other.

  2. The congress appeals to the Somali people a complete ceasefire and voluntary disarmament.  

  3. The participants in the congress would be recognized as national delegates representing the nation as a whole starting from 1^st august 2007.

  4. The delegates of the congress agreed unanimously to stop calling the fifth clan “Others” or giving them any similar offensive name. These clans will be called “the cooperative of the fifth clan”.

  2. The Disarmament.

  DECISIONS OF THE CONGRESS: -

  1. To build up well trained and fully equipped national armed forces provided with all the necessary supplies that can facilitate the accomplishment of their obligation and that should have good discipline and religious conviction ,while guaranteeing the payment of their allocated stipend and other additional benefits at the end of each month.

  2. To carry out a well coordinated, demobilization, disarmament, and rehabilitation program in all over the country while seeking assistance from the international community. 

  3. To construct screening and rehabilitation Centers for the disarmed youth in order to facilitate the process of the DDR, program and to provide the youth with skilled trainings that could assist them in the future so they can assimilate again the standard norms of the society ,while requesting financial support from the international community and the friendly countries. 

  5. To launch a constant orientation program for the promotion of the disarmament and the national security through the media while utilizing the religious leaders (Sunna-wal-Jamaa’a sect), artists, poets, the women and all other sectors of the society.

  6. The issued decisions of the congress concerning the disarmament and the national security should be recognized as legal or constitutional where any person violating them would be penalized/persecuted accordingly.

  7. The TFG will be accountable for the security of the people and the country where the public is requested to give full support in the implementation of the national security program.

  8. Any individual, clan or group causing harm to the Somali people , after the finalization of the national reconciliation congress, would meet collective resistance of the people and of the government and would be brought to justice. Moreover, it’s an obligation of each individual and clan to observe the restoration of peace in the country. 

  3. Return of  Properties.

  DECISIONS OF THE CONGRESS: -

  1. All the possessed properties i.e. buildings whether commercial, residential or for other purposes like land, farmland, factories – warshado – Garages workshops, water-wells, reservoirs, living animals or any other materials having economic values like scripts, books etc whether public or private should be returned to its rightful owners without conditions.

  2. The congress requested from the clans, traditional elders, intellectuals and the TFG to take a noteworthy role in the immediate fulfillment of the returning of the said properties.

  4. Good Governance, Political Reform and Democratic Transition.

  DECISIONS OF THE CONGRESS:

  1. Congress remains seized with the matter of national reconciliation .Congress authorizes the Chairman and the National Governance and Reconciliation Committee to call Congress into session when deemed necessary to monitor implementation and to continue the process of national reconciliation..  

  2. The TFG should implement and continue the process of the reconciliation program genuinely and effectively, while dividing this process into:

  i.The government should open a peace dialogue and conclude an accord with the existing regional governments, organizations, factions, and opposing personalities and with any other persons declining to resolve disagreement by the use of force, terrorist strategy, religious extremism, and armed violence.

  ii.The government should extend the reconciliation to all regions, districts and villages of the country permitting them simultaneously to select their respective administrative authorities.

  iii.The government should mobilize timed conferences that would bring together religious clerics - sunna-wal- Jama’a focusing on the purpose of identifying international extremist groups while enforcing the right religious interpretation of the Islamic doctrine.

  iv.Parliament should amend the Federal Transitional Charter in such a way that paves the way for the formation of an efficient government chosen from the public or the parliament  giving full consideration to the education, efficiency, experience, transparency, good behavior and patriotism.

  v.The anticipated government should be inclusive of all clans and based on the real political power sharing in conjunction with the transitional charter.

  vi.While keeping in mind the remaining time of the term of the TFG, the government is requested the enforcement of the provisions of the transitional charter and implement the following: -

  1. Population census.
  2. Draft a federal constitution
  3. Conduct a referendum for the drafted constitution
  4. formation of the law regularizing the multiparty systems
  5. Issue electoral laws
  6. Nomination of electoral committees.
  7. The performance of a fair and free elections before the end of the term of the TFG in the year 2009

  The national reconciliation conference of the Somali clans requested His Excellency Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed the President of the Republic of Somalia to extend the operating period of the National Governance Reconciliation Committee – NGRC - of the Somali clans while giving the committee full powers in order to;

  1. That the committee can invite or organize any sort of reconciliation when and where necessary.
  2. that the committee should ensure and trace the implementation of the decision reached by the conference

  5. Resource and Power Sharing

   The conference decided:

  1. The government should undertake studies and research in the exploitation of the resources of the country and the best ways to use them.
  2. The resources are national assets and the TFG is responsible for its preservation and their justifiable distribution giving priority to the areas where the resources were found.    
  3. It is indispensable to fetch the educated Somalis and enroll them in the federal government departments in regional governments, regions and district levels.

  6. Extremism and its Effects on the Country  

  The conference decided:

  1. Safeguarding and respecting the Islamic religion is the responsibility of the TFG.
  2. To restrain any thing that could trigger religious divisions
  3. That the educational curriculum of the Islamic studies should correspond to the basis of the Islamic Sharia and should followed up.
  4. The TFG should establish an Ifta council (a group of Islamic clerics engaged in the interpretation of the Islamic Sharia) who will undertake the right interpretation of the religious matters.
  5. The promotion of massaging decency and restraining immoralities were the Islamic religious leaders would be directed to orientate the Somali youth whether civilian or military.
  6. The role of the moderate religious leaders should be recognized and they should be given the opportunity to participate in the restoration of peace and the reconstruction of the country.
  7. stations of the national armed forces should be constructed in places far from the Islamic religious holy places
  8. that the TFG should develop the religious national education for all levels of schools starting from the basic Quranic schools (madrassa), primary, secondary and tertiary education.
  9. to stop any religious conflicts difference and advocate the obedience of the national leaders as was instructed by Allah as prescribed by the Holy Quran
  10. The participant delegates appeal and propose to the Somali public to strictly follow the Islamic teach9ngs and pray God and ask Him forgiveness, peace and wisdom. Proposing to all able Muslim Somali to fast three consecutive days starting fro 29^th august 2007.

  6. The Unity of the peoples of the Republicof Somalia.               

   The conference decided the following:

  1. That the Somali unity is paramount and every citizen has the responsibility of taking care of it. 
  2. All grievances should be resolved through dialogue where those having right should be so acknowledged and should be recompensed. Moreover, the government departing from this point should enter a dialogue with Somaliland under the preservation of justice and national unity.
  3. The resource and power should be shared on equitable basis
  4. The proposed constitution should be based on federal system giving each division of the country to autonomously administer their localities while respecting the unity, good governance and obedience to the central government. At the same time, the central government should inspect the order of the progress of the developments and administrations of the regions, districts and villages of the country.
  5. Any emerging disagreements that can jeopardize the unity of the country should be resolved under the guidance of the national constitution and the supreme judiciary departments.   

       

  1. THE WOMEN’S RIGHTS

  The conference further decided

  1. Women should receive their 12% share in the Parliamentary seats.

  2. Women should get their share in the Government and the Judiciary organs.

  3. Women should be given a suitable share in the regional administrations.

  4. The Women should be given their share in continuation of the reconciliation and peace building in every stages i.e. national regional and district levels.

  5. Those Women should be given the role of decision making in the peace conference.

  6. That Women’s civil society groups re-encouraged and improved to play a constructive role in the society.

  7. To promote Girls, Educational programs.

  8. To provide skill training programs for Women.

  9. To provide Women financial and economic support and opportunities in Business.

  10. To provide or give Women opportunities in the Government, contracts and improve the Health standard and condition of the Mother and Child. 

  Essential Documents are vital primary sources underpinning the foreign policy debate.

  Agreement

  • Somali National Reconciliation Conference Decisions, September 2007

• Publications Information

  To order Task Force reports, Council Special Reports, and Critical Policy Choices, please call, fax, or order online from our distributor, the Brookings Institution Press: phone +1.800.537.5487, fax +1.410.516.6998.

  For information on other reports that are not for sale, or for general publications information, please call +1.212.434.9516 or email publications@cfr.org.

  New Books

  Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.

  

  In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.

  In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.

  Complete list of CFR Books

•  

Copyright 2009 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All Rights Reserved.