The Institute for Horn of Africa Studies and Affairs (IHASA) welcomes the recently signed Jubbaland agreement between the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and the leaders of Jubbaland administration following their talks in Addis Ababa August 23–27th. While there are both pitfalls and promises in the signed agreement, we nevertheless believe it is a step in the right direction in what has been otherwise a strained relationship.
The art of conflict resolution entails give and take. In Addis Ababa, the two parties proved their willingness to compromise on contentious issues after what was an unfortunate and uncalled for events in the past few months in Kismayo. Consequently, the two parties are to be commended for their willingness to compromise and engage in constructive dialogue that led to the signing of this agreement.
Implementation has been an issue in past agreements between Somalia’s warring parties. We therefore have our fingers crossed that this time around the parties will implement the agreement as signed. Failure to do so has negative consequences for both the federal government and the nascent Jubbaland administration.
Summarizing the Agreement
The signed agreement contained four broad clusters of articles with 23 sub-articles categorized in the following areas:
1. Establishment of an interim government
2. Management of resources and institutions
3. Management of security forces and militias integration
4. Reconciliation and confidence-building
Read more: Press Release Jubba
