UN pushes for enlarged parly

2009-01-06 20:20

Nairobi - The UN's top envoy for Somalia on Tuesday said he was pushing for an enlarged parliament to include the Islamist-led opposition before an upcoming presidential election.

The Somali parliament is to elect a new president by the end of January after Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed resigned last week, leaving a country already threatened by a security vacuum facing political uncertainty.

UN envoy Ahmedou Ould Abdallah said he hoped that the team tasked with drafting a formula for a broader parliament including the more moderate Islamists would find a solution in time for the vote.

"I think they can publish the list in the coming days," he said.

Parliament speaker Aden Mohamed Nur, in accordance with the country's transitional charter, stepped in as interim president when Yusuf resigned.

Among those believed to be in the running for the presidency is Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the leader of the opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS).

Sheikh Sharif - who was one of the top leaders of the Islamist militia that briefly controlled Somalia in 2006 - is from the faction of the ARS which accepted UN-sponsored talks with the transitional administration.

Somalia has been mired in civil conflict with no effective central authority since 1991.

- AFP