Somalis must lead the quest for peace‏

Ghana's former President and African Union (AU) High Representative
for Somalia, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings says the people of Somalia
must be given an opportunity to lead the quest for peace in their
country.
 
President Rawlings said Somalis must be encouraged to embrace a sense
of nationalism and recognise that without a patriotic zeal to work
together to resolve the crisis, their country will continue to sink.
 
Speaking at an extraordinary summit of the six-nation
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Addis Ababa on
Sunday, President Rawlings sought the support of the regional group to
interface with the factions in Somalia to instil in them the need to
embrace the peace process and suggest ways of resolving the crisis.
 
IGAD, a regional group of countries with close proximity to Somalia,
comprising Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Sudan was
instrumental in the appointment of President Rawlings as AU High
Representative.
 
President Rawlings said the Somalia issue had taken a life of its own
escalating onto the high seas through piracy and terrorist activity as
happened in last July's twin bombings in Kampala, Uganda.
 
In attendance at the IGAD meeting were Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of
Ethiopia, Presidents Omar Al Bashir of Sudan, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya,
Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, Djibouti's Omar Guelle and Sharif Ahmed
of Somalia. Also present were former Presidents Pierre Buyoya of
Burundi and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa. The two were instrumental in
brokering the peace process in Sudan.
 
President Rawlings has held a series of high-level meetings with major
stakeholders and contributors to the peace process in Somalia.
 
He also held a meeting with Somali President, Sharif Ahmed. The two
discussed the situation in Somalia and the Somali President expressed
his commitment to the desire by President Rawlings to interface with
the various factions to work for the common good of Somalia.
 
On Friday January 28, President Rawlings held meetings with Mr. Ahmed
Salah Al-Dein Noah, Ambassador of the League of Arab States to
Ethiopia and Representative to the African Union and the UN Economic
Commission for Africa, the American Ambassador to the AU, Mr. John
Battle and Koen Vervaeke, European Union Special Representative to the
African Union as well as a host of ambassadors from the EU.
 
On Sunday morning President Rawlings also participated in the opening
session of the Summit of Head of State of the African Union held at
the auditorium of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.