Accra, Feb 28, GNA- President John Evans Atta Mills on

Monday urged the African Union agencies working on the

Somalia peace process not to be daunted by past failures of

peace initiatives, but use the right mix of support to ensure

noticeable progress in the current peace efforts. He told the opening session of a meeting on the African

Union Support to the Implementation of the Djibouti Peace

Process for Somalis that all of Africa was watching with keen

interest the outcome of the current arrangement for peace. The three-day meeting in Accra is being attended by Ghana's

former President Jerry John Rawlings, now AU High

Representative on Somalia. The conference, also being attend by seven members of the

Trasitional Federal Parliament in Somalia, is meant to seek a

wide range of consultations and inputs into the reforms and

strategies for the effective discharge of the duties of the

Transitional Team and to ensure lasting peace in Somalia after

two decades of civil war. President Mills said there were few areas in the world that

had the intensity and diversity of the situation that had plagued

the African continent, and the conflict in Somalia unacceptably

threatened the peace and stability of the Horn of Africa. The strife had now assumed global dimensions, inducing

transnational conflicts, international crime, terrorism and the

destruction of physical infrastructure. It is also denying access to education, and undermining the

image of Somalia. President Mills commended the efforts of the African Union

and praised former President Rawlings on his acceptance of

the position of the AU High Representative on Somalia to

bring his vast experience to bear on the peace process. Former President Rawlings stressed that the solution to the

Somali problem would require a more inclusive and

reconciliatory approach. He called for the filling of a leadership vacuum in Somalia,

saying the absence of elected leaders had made it difficult to

win the trust of the people and appreciate the situation on the

ground. Former President Rawlings observed the negatives of the

crisis, such as famine, and called for concerted efforts to bring

the situation under check. "Somalia is in need of internal structures if the rebuilding

process is to succeed," the former President said, adding 93we

have to take advantage of the wind of change [in North Africa]

to ensure peace in Somalia. Other speakers at the session, Ghana's Foreign Affairs

Minister Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, United Nations Special

Representative for Somalia, Mr Boubacar Diarra, and Mr

Shariff Hassan Sheikh Aden, the Speaker of the Transitional

Federal Parliament of Somalia, as well as Dr Augustine Mahiga,

praised Ghana's democratic credentials and welcomed

Ghana's contributions in the Somalia peace efforts.