(SomaliNet) The United Nations said Wednesday that Somalia's weak transitional government has agreed to share power with a faction of the country's opposition. Sources say the agreement was unlikely to change the political chaos in Somalia, however, as the extremist group at the center of a deadly insurgency did not participate.
The power-sharing deal calls for doubling the number of parliament seats to 550, with 200 going to the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia -- a relatively moderate group that split from the Shabab extremist group. No timeline was set for implementing the deal, which also extends parliament's term two years beyond its original end date of August 2009.
"We are happy with what we have achieved so far," Abdirahman Warsame, chief negotiator for the opposition alliance, told The Associated Press by telephone from the U.N.-backed talks in Djibouti. "What we are waiting for now is the election of the leadership that would haul the country out of its current chaos."
However, calls to Somali government negotiators were not immediately returned.
Somalia has had no effective government for two decades, and the U.N.-backed transitional administration has failed to exert any real control. Making matters worse, President Abdullahi Yusuf recently has been feuding openly with the prime minister, with each accusing the other of hampering plans for peace.
Meanwhile, a humanitarian crisis has worsened with high food prices and drought.
African Union peacekeepers have struggled to maintain security, with only 2,600 troops of the mission's approved 8,000 on the ground.
The U.N. Security Council said that, if Somalia can improve security and political reconciliation, it would consider sending U.N. peacekeepers to replace AU forces.
The U.N. envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, said he hopes the new power-sharing deal will lead to "Somali leaders working together, wholeheartedly and committed to the dignity of the Somali people."