Rawlings calls for the implementation of recommendations on Somalia

Accra, March 3, GNA - Former President Jerry John

Rawlings has called on institutions working towards peace in

Somalia to implement recommendations agreed during the

two-day conference on Somalia in Accra. President Rawlings who is the African Union (AU) High

Representative for Somalia said the communiqu=E9 issued at the

end of the conference would be meaningless if its

recommendations were not implemented. "The communiqu=E9 tells us this conference has come up

with concrete recommendations on how to support the

Djibouti Peace Process during the remaining period of the

Transition and beyond. This is a commendable achievement

but it will mean nothing if it is not implemented, 93he added. This was contained in a statement issued from the Office

of Former President Rawlings in Accra on Thursday. Delivering the closing remarks at the conference, President

Rawlings said: 93I call on all those institutions to which these

recommendations have been made, to support the Somalia

Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP)." "The TFP will be required to take the necessary steps in

order to avoid any vacuum or create conditions, which anti-

peace elements will exploit to jeopardize the gains we have

recorded so far." President Rawlings pledged to collaborate with all the

stakeholders to mobilise the International Community to

ensure that these recommendations were translated into

tangible dividends to maintain the momentum gained in recent

times. "I hope our prayer of thoughts and prayer of words will

now be translated into a prayer of action in Somalia", he

added. During the conference, President Rawlings held meetings

with leading figures on the Somalia process, including Sheikh

Shariff Hassan Sheikh Aden, Speaker of the Somali Parliament

and Mr Boubacar Diarra, Special Representative of the

Chairperson of AU Commission to Somalia. The rest were; Mr Augustine Mahiga, Special

Representative of the United Nations Secretary General to

Somalia and Mr Patrick Nabiswa Koyi, Representative of the

Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).