Somali government has welcomed a reconciliation deal inked by Palestinian factions in Algiers.
The deal, signed last Thursday, aims to end a rift between President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement and Hamas that has split Palestinian governance in besieged Gaza from the occupied West Bank and hindered Palestinian ambitions of complete independence from Israeli occupation.
In a statement, Somali foreign ministry said the government of the Federal Republic welcomes the signing of the agreement by the Palestinian factions. The confluence was concluded on October 13 in the capital of Algeria and hopes to implement its provisions as a more effective way to achieve national reconciliation.
Under Thursday’s “Algiers Declaration”, also signed by other major Palestinian factions, elections will take place for the presidency and for the Palestinian Legislative Council, which acts as a parliament for Palestinians in the occupied territories.
It also stipulates elections for the Palestinian National Council, a parliament for Palestinians including the millions-strong diaspora. Algeria agreed to host the council.
The delegations, however, did not agree to form a unity government.
The division between Palestinian factions, triggered after Hamas won a legislative election in 2006, has prevented any further elections since then.
The deal also recognised the Palestine Liberation Organisation, of which Abbas is the head, as the sole representative of the Palestinian people, and called for elections to its national council within a year.
