The U.N. special envoy to Somalia arrived in the troubled capital Friday to push for an inclusive reconciliation conference, as the U.N.'s refugee agency said people displaced by recent fighting were gradually returning. U.N. envoy Francois Fall met with Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi on his first visit here since government troops backed by Ethiopians ejected Islamic militias from Mogadishu, after some of the deadliest fighting in more than a decade, according to AP. «Among the agendas we discussed with the government were security, human rights and dialogue with the dominant Hawiye clan,» Fall said in a brief news conference held in a hotel in the north of the capital. He said that ways to secure funding for the planned June 14 reconciliation conference also were discussed. Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, who spoke briefly, said his discussion with the U.N. envoy had ended in a mutual understanding. «I am happy to meet with the U.N. envoy and I think, the world would no longer turn a deaf ear to the needs of the Somali people,» Gedi said. Earlier, Per Lindgarde, the U.N.'s deputy envoy for Somalia, had said in neighboring Kenya that Fall would urge the country's top officials to create a conducive environment before the reconciliation conference and to improve security in the capital. The U.N., the U.S. and the European Union have repeatedly called on the transitional government to reach out to the moderate elements of the ousted Islamic courts and to adopt an inclusive government. «The government should open dialogue with all those who are ready for the reconciliation conference,» said Lindgarde, adding that anyone who renounces violence should be allowed to take part. He said the U.N. also stresses the need for the reconciliation commission to be independent, as the president, who first proposed the conference, has promised it would be. On Friday, UNHCR said almost 400,000 people have fled Mogadishu since the beginning of February, when the last round of fighting began, according to data provided to it by a network of aid agencies. The agency said people were returning to areas where no fighting occurred, but they lacked food, water and medicine. «Families who used to live in neighborhoods affected by the fighting are still reluctant to go back, mainly because of the reported presence of soldiers from the (government) and allied Ethiopian troops,» UNHCR said in a statement. «Civilians fear that, should they go back, they might be caught once more in the crossfire if the fighting resumes.» The UNHCR said some 250,000 people who fled during the recent fighting in Mogadishu were unable to return because of insecurity or because their houses were destroyed. The reconciliation conference had been scheduled for April, but was postponed several times. The chairman of the organizing committee, Ali Mahdi Mohmamed, said in April that the conference was postponed because his committee had not received money to run it. The African Union's special representative for Somalia, Mohamed Ali Foum, arrived Thursday in Mogadishu, and said he and Fall would emphasize the need to encourage peace and reconciliation. «We asked the government to include all the Somali stake-holders, those who want peace, and the clan elders into the conference,» Foum said. Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned against each other. A national government was established in 2004, but has struggled to assert any real control. -- SPA
