qanyare:Reconciliation conference cannot be held in Mogadish

[Hiiraan boy]

MOGADISHU, Somalia May 27 (Garowe Online) - A former Mogadishu warlord who is now a member of Somalia’s transitional parliament said on Sunday that the scheduled national reconciliation conference cannot be held next month.

MP Mohamed Qanyare said the main reason to support his view is that the public has not been disarmed yet, and alluded to the fact that anti-government armed groups are still present in the capital, Mogadishu.

“In my opinion…a reconciliation conference cannot be held until civilians are [first] disarmed,” Qanyare said, adding that the conference was postponed in the past due to violent opposition from armed groups in Mogadishu.

On the other hand, the Somali warlord-turned-lawmaker welcomed ongoing security operations in Mogadishu led by the Ethiopian army, which intervened in Somalia last December to install the weak transitional government in the Somali capital.

The United States has supported measures to host an all-inclusive reconciliation conference to resolve the political impasse in the Horn of Africa country.

The conference is scheduled to open on June 14 in Mogadishu, where 1,325 clan delegates are supposed to debate and pave the way for democratic elections in 2009 to replace the current transitional government.

[kadarre]

[quote="Hiiraan boy"]2009 to replace the current transitional government.[/quote]