Somalia: January 8, 2003

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Despite all the warlords agreeing on October 27th to stop fighting and keep peace talks going in Kenya, there has been an unending series of violent incidents in Mogadishu, and in the Bari, Bay, Bakol, Gedo and Lower Shabelle regions. Although the number of delegates to the peace talks has been increased to over 300, there are still factions that say they are not represented, and ones that are insisting they are underrepresented. The problem is that there are many armed factions that are not represented in the peace talks and this is because these factions are, firstly, bandit bands and, only secondarily, clan based. These groups tend not to be represented in the peace talks, but are well represented in the violence that still occurs in Somalia.