Somalia: IRIN interview with Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galeyr - Part 2
NAIROBI, 22 November (IRIN) - Somalia's newly appointed Prime Minister Ali Khalif Galeyr is in Nairobi for the first
official meeting with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi, before travelling on to Uganda. Since attempting to set up a national
government, the new government has suffered two assassinations in Mogadishu, and continues to face opposition from
numerous faction leaders and the established breakaway administrations in Somaliland, northwest, and Puntland, northeast. In
this second part of an interview with IRIN, Galeyr spoke about how the new government is approaching the issue of regional
and factional opposition.
QUESTION: There is a feeling that by now, there should have been some progress in talks with Somaliland. Any
behind-the-scene developments?
ANSWER: I would be less than honest if I tell you that there are serious talks going on now. Our position is that we want to
be very tolerant. We know why Somaliland came about.
I participated myself in the Burao meeting of 1991 and of 1993
(which first formed the breakaway state, and later elected "President" Mohamed Egal). Most of the people in the cabinet and
the Somaliland president are friends of mine. I come from the area. I know the rationale behind the formation of Somaliland
when the state collapsed. But I think the dynamics and the whole political map has changed. We have not started a serious
dialogue yet, but we are ready to engage them at any level they are happy with - whether at the highest level, or some
informal arrangement. But I am sorry, thus thus far, apart from one or two lines of communication that have been established, we
don't have anything concrete in hand.
http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.in ... 224791.pdf
3.6.5 National Charter: A System of Government
With regard to the system of government, several proposals were floated, with a number of groups presenting draft national charters of their own which incorporated their preferred system (Gulaid, 2007; Saleebaan Afqarshe, 2007b):
1. Five rotating presidents; each representing one of the Northern clans (Harti, Habar Yoonis, Habar Je’lo, Habar Awal, and one for Gadabuursi/Esa combined) and holding the Presidency for a fifth of the total term;
2. A constitutional president with high-level responsibility for national unity and constitutional order, but few administrative powers, presiding over a strong prime minister and parliament; and
3. A strong executive president with a council of ministers, and a parliament providing checks on executive power.
A compromise between the rotating presidency and the more traditional presidential system, in which there would be a rotating prime minister, was also suggested at one stage (Saleebaan Afqarshe, 2007b, lines 328-329). Different groups favoured different positions: the Calan Cas group 34 were lobbying for a strong executive with the intention of removing Abdirahman ‘Tuur’ from the position, while the ‘Tuur’ and his government supporters also favoured an executive president, though clearly with himself holding that position. The Gadabuursi preferred a strong prime minister with a constitutional presidency and a powerful parliament (Garaad, 2007, lines 148-152),
as did the Dhulbahante (Gees, 2007a), who had their own candidate in mind for prime minister – Dr Ali Khalif Galaid, who ultimately went on to become Prime Minister of the Somali Transitional National Government at Arta, Djibouti in 2000 (Saleebaan Afqarshe, 2007b, lines 356-361).
http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.in ... 224791.pdf
why the other side dont understand it
