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Somali leader leaves for AU Summit in Addis Ababa

29 January 2011 22:14 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed flew to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to attend Sunday’s crucial annual meeting of African leaders, according to an official statement, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.

The African Union (AU) will commence its 16th summit on Sunday in its headquarters in the Ethiopian capital with the theme of "Towards Greater Unity and Integration through Shared Values".

"The President will present a speech detailing the current prevailing situation of the country particularly the security, droughts and the politics," said the statement from the Office of the Somali President on Saturday.

Somalia, one of the most intractable trouble spots on the continent, is expected to be among the top of the agenda as the country has been plagued by two decades of deadly civil conflict.

The years of lawlessness made the country a breeding ground for piracy and Islamist extremism, with most of the southern and central parts of the Horn of Africa nation controlled by Al Qaeda affiliated militant group Al Shabaab.

Somalia this week marked the 20th anniversary of the start of the civil conflict with the downfall of the former Somali strongman Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.

The protracted civil conflict left thousands of mainly civilians dead or injured and almost 1.5 million of the Somali capital’s residents out of their homes into squalid camps on its outskirts.

The Somali government’s mandate will end in August and the international community spearheaded by the AU is concerned about the looming end of the transitional period with none of the required tasks of the government finalized to pave the way for free and fair elections.

The current national charter which was drawn in 2004 envisaged the drafting of a constitution, the conducting of census and the completion of the peace process to include the opposition, but none has been achieved so far.

The Somali government now controls only few parts of the capital Mogadishu with the backing of almost 8,000 AU peacekeeping troops.

A number of attempts at drafting the constitution were made, but differences blocked its passage in parliament.