[ti:Draft Constitution Signed for Somalia]
[ar:Steve Ember]
[al:IN THE NEWS]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]Go to 51voa.com for more...
[00:03.11]This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
[00:08.94]Somalia has taken a big step
[00:11.85]along its so-called roadmap
[00:14.42]for ending a period of political transition
[00:19.38]toward a new government.
[00:21.35]On Friday, in Nairobi, Somali officials
[00:25.31]signed an agreement on a proposed constitution.
[00:28.73]Augustine Mahiga, the United Nations
[00:32.67]special representative for Somalia,
[00:35.19]welcomed the signing of several important measures
[00:39.27]on the roadmap.
[00:40.72]AUGUSTINE MAHIGA: "This stage in Nairobi
[00:41.97]is probably the most critical because it ushers
[00:48.36]in the accomplishment of one of the major steps
[00:53.85]to end the transition."
[00:56.45]Six parties have signed the roadmap,
[00:59.12]including the leaders of Somalia's
[01:01.42]Transitional Federal Government and regional governments.
[01:06.50]The signers also include a representative of an influential militia.
[01:12.63]Friday's agreement in the Kenyan capital
[01:16.10]followed more than two days of debate.
[01:19.16]Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohammed Ali said
[01:23.65]the debate was mainly about the size of the future parliament
[01:29.60]and the methods for choosing future lawmakers.
[01:32.98]ABDIWELI ALI: "It went through a difficult process,
[01:35.18]but with all the challenges that we faced,
[01:38.22]we finally delivered to the Somali people."
[01:40.99]A National Constituent Assembly
[01:43.78]with eight hundred twenty-five members
[01:46.51]must still approve the draft constitution.
[01:50.52]After that, the constitution will be considered provisional
[01:55.11]until Somalis hold a national vote to make it permanent.
[02:00.19]But the Somali government and international officials
[02:04.78]have said the security situation
[02:07.63]remains too dangerous to hold such a referendum.
[02:12.04]The assembly will meet in Mogadishu next month.
[02:16.30]The officials gathered in Nairobi
[02:19.19]decided to delay the assembly meeting by two weeks.
[02:23.57]That delay will leave only one month to elect a parliament
[02:29.36]and a new president by August twentieth.
[02:32.64]That is the deadline agreed to by the signers of the roadmap
[02:38.06]for ending an eight-year-long transition.
[02:41.91]Somalia has not had a strong central government
[02:46.95]since the fall of President Mohamed Siad Barre
[02:50.73]in nineteen ninety-one.
[02:52.88]The Transitional Federal Government was established
[02:56.83]in two thousand four but has little real power.
[03:01.31]Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
[03:06.36]Three military offensives are underway against
[03:10.62]al-Shabab militants in central and southern Somalia.
[03:15.65]VOA recently did a survey of Somalis to get their opinions
[03:21.21]about their proposed constitution.
[03:23.88]The survey offers a rare look at the political views
[03:29.14]in a country torn by war and drought.
[03:32.64]More than three thousand men and women answered the survey.
[03:37.75]Eighty-three percent of those in the survey said
[03:42.34]they want a constitution with a strong central government.
[03:47.26]Eighty-seven percent said the constitution
[03:51.85]should be based in Sharia, or Islamic law.
[03:55.91]Sixty-eight percent agreed that women
[03:59.23]should be allowed to hold political positions.
[04:02.84]Senior editor Harun Maruf in VOA's Somali Service says
[04:08.42]the service teamed with Google to do the survey.
[04:12.79]HARUN MARUF: "There was never political survey
[04:15.08]with this depth and effort in Somalia.
[04:19.33]This would be the first one."
[04:20.99]The service collected more than
[04:23.15]twenty thousand phone numbers for the survey.
[04:26.00]Harun Maruf says the militant-controlled areas
[04:30.45]proved the most difficult, as expected.
[04:33.89]HARUN MARUF: "You would call somebody
[04:36.61]who lives in a territory controlled by al-Shabab,
[04:40.76]and al-Shabab will know.
[04:42.54]They issued a statement saying that anybody
[04:45.49]who participates in the constitution process
[04:47.90]would be put to death."
[04:49.86]And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
[04:54.74]I'm Steve Ember.
[04:56.48]Go to 51voa.com for more...
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA¾©Ïã2018ÏÂÔØ
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