Somali Govt to Share Power with Opposition Moderates

Somalia's fragile interim government has agreed to share power with a moderate alliance of opposition leaders and groups, the UN has reported. The two sides signed a UN-backed power sharing agreement in Djibouti, which calls for the doubling of the number of Somalia’s legislators to 550 – two hundred of whom will be nominated from the opposition Alliance for the Re-liberalization of Somalia (ARS). Analysts however fear the power sharing plan will not do much to pacify Somalia since it excludes the extremist Al Shabaab guerillas, who have adamantly refused to participate in any negotiations with the country’s transitional federal government. [PE]