The senior United Nations envoy to Somalia
appealed for calm today in the strife-torn African country after gunmen
assassinated the Minister for Constitutional and Federal Affairs Abdallah
Deerow Isaaq outside a mosque, and he announced he will attend an urgent
regional meeting called to discuss the worsening situation.
"I am appalled by this act of violence
against a minister in Somalia's Transitional Federal Institutions. I offer
my condolences to Mr. Isaaq's family and appeal for calm in what is already
a turbulent moment in Somalia's recent history," said François Lonsény
Fall, the Secretary-General's Special Representative. Mr. Isaaq was killed
in Baidoa.
On Monday Mr. Fall will attend a meeting of the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) called by Kenya's Minister of Foreign Affairs to "address the unfolding crisis in Somalia," the UN said. IGAD Member States are Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.
The meeting has been called to consider recent Security Council statements on Somalia, as well as an IGAD and African Union report on an Assessment and Reconnaissance Mission to the country earlier this month.
Yesterday, Mr. Fall wrote to the chairman of the Executive Council of Islamic Courts to reiterate his call for a resumption of peace talks with the Transitional Federal Government. He also stressed the UN's commitment to pursuing all avenues for peace and reconciliation through dialogue in Somalia, which has not had a functioning government since President Muhammad Siad Barre's regime was toppled in 1991.