STORY: SOMALIA/JUBALAND RECONCILIATION CONFERENCE TRT: 02:19 SOURCE: AU/UN IST RESTRICTIONS: This media asset is free for

editorial broadcast, print, online and radio use. It is not to be sold on and is restricted for other purposes. All enquiries to news@auunist.org CREDIT REQUIRED: UN LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/SOMALI/ NATS DATELINE: 03 NOVEMBER 2013/MOGADISHU/ SOMALIA SHOTLIST: 1. Wide shot, conference hall with delegates seated. 2. Mid shot, Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon and Head of Juba Interim Administration Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed at the high table 3. Med shot, Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon 4. Med shot, Head of Juba Interim Administration Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed 5. Wide shot, delegates during the conference 6. Med shot, UN Representative Waldemar Vrey 7. SOUND BITE (Somali) Abdi Farah Shirdon, Somali Prime Minister: We anticipate and we hope to play a big part in enabling this interim administration to become a fully functioning federal administration in Juba land and to unify the Juba regions within a two-year period or less if enough effort or work is put into achieving this. 8. Med shot, delegates at the conference 9. SOUND BITE (Somali) Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed, Head of Juba Interim Administration: Lets be a people who have one voice, lets be one people with the same aims and goals. Let us forget the negative impressions that we have of each other and come together. Let us see the good in each person and forget the bad feelings that we have against each other. Let us not say one thing and contradict it later. 10. Med shot, delegates listening

11. SOUND BITE (English) Waldemar Very, UNSOM Director for the Rule of Law and Security Institutions Group: The success of this conference will go beyond the Juba region in significance. It will set the tone and framework for successful reconciliation efforts in the rest of Somalias regions. 12. Wide shot, conference hall with delegates

STORY The Juba Reconciliation Conference is being held in Mogadishu, in a move meant to strengthen federal governance and check clan conflict. The conference attended by the Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon and the leader of the Juba Interim Administration Ahmed Mohamed Islam Madobe was convened as a follow up to IGAD brokered talks held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in August this year, to smoothen relations between the Juba leadership and the Federal Government. The meeting brought together traditional elders, Islamic scholars, business people and government officials from Lower Juba, Middle Juba and Gedo; the three regions that form Jubaland in the south of the country. Speaking during the conference, the Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon expressed hope that continuous dialogue will go a long way in improving the situation in Juba. We anticipate and we hope to play a big part in enabling this interim administration to become a fully functioning federal administration in Juba land and to unify the Juba regions within a two-year period or less if enough effort or work is put into achieving this, he said. Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed, Head of the Juba Interim Administration on the other hand called for consistence and unity as crucial steps in forging a way forward. Let us be a people who have one voice, let us be one people with the same aims and goals. Lets forget the negative impressions that we have of each other and come together. Let us see the good in each person and forget the bad feelings that we have against each other. Let us not say one thing and contradict it later, he appealed. The reconciliation process has been supported by the United Nations, which maintains that effective federal systems across the region are crucial for the stability and development of the country as a whole.

Speaking at the conference, the UNSOM Director for the Rule of Law and Security Institutions Group, Waldemar Vrey underscored the importance of the reconciliation process. The success of this conference will go beyond the Juba region in significance. It will set the tone and framework for successful reconciliation efforts in the rest of Somalias regions, he said. According to the agreement signed in August, the semi-autonomous state of Juba is recognized but it still falls under the constitutional governance of the Somali Federal Government. The two parties also agreed to have the regions major resources from the key port of Kismayo put under the control of the Central government, although the earnings generated are to be exclusively channeled to the development of infrastructure in the region. Last week Somalias President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud paid his first visit to the port city of Kismayo since he took up office in 2012. END.