Somali parliament may delay presidential election

Somalia's parliament is expected to vote on a motion on Monday to delay the election of a president to allow more time for talks on enlarging the assembly, legislators said. A Western-backed interim government has failed to establish stability in a country where more than 16,000 civilians have been killed in the past two years, Islamist rebels are attacking the capital and the chaos onshore has fuelled rampant piracy. The international community has been urging feuding Somalis to settle their political differences, expand the parliament to include the moderate Islamist opposition and elect a new president during talks in neighbouring Djibouti this week.
Under the constitutional charter, a new Somali president should be chosen by parliament within 30 days of the resignation of former President Abdullahi Yusuf, who quit on December 29."We have put forward a motion which states the time of the elections should be extended," said member of parliament Ahmed Issa Awale, adding there would be a vote on Monday.
Parliamentarians meeting in Djibouti under a U.N.-hosted reconciliation process said they were looking for an extension of seven to 10 days. Members of the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS), which is expecting to join a new unity government, said they would like the presidential election to be postponed by a few weeks..more.http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2009/01/26/africa/OUKWD-UK-SOMALIA-CONFLICT.php