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International Donors Discuss Somalia Aid

Somalis and international community began a four-day meeting in Nairobi on Wednesday in unique effort to complement peace building with reconstruction and development assistance. The Joint Needs Assessment (JNA) Inception Retreat will discuss the objectives, methodology and timeline for producing a Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP), a document to mobilize and coordinate international assistance for a five-year period (2006-2010).

"After more than a decade of state failure, this is our chance at charting a new future for Somalia we owe it to ourselves and our children to make this work," Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said.

The donor meeting is being attended by hundreds of representatives of various Somali groups as well as the United Nations, the World Bank, donors and civil society which are part of the Somali JNA, a process of developing a reconstruction and development vision and priority initiatives for Somalia.