Briefing from ROAPE Volume 29 Number 91
Somalia: Sovereign Disguise for Mogadishu Mafia

On 22 August 2000, the Somali National Peace Conference drew to a close in Arta, Djibouti, with the election of the President of a Transitional National Government (TNG). Sceptics had bemoaned the so-called Arta Process as another round of meaningless reconciliation initiatives. Thirteen different peace conferences for Somalia had reached conclusions over the past decade, but none bore fruit. Such dismissals were significantly wide of the mark, as less than two months later President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan and the majority of his 245-member parliament left Djibouti for Mogadishu.