UN General Assembly
2000

The cornerstone of the process was the key role played by the traditional leaders, particularly in the achievement of the broadest possible reconciliation among the Somali clans. For long stretches of time, amounting to years, there had been virtually no contact between them, allowing each to pile up grievances throughout the conflict. Slowly and painfully, the conference persistently addressed complex political issues, while striving to overcome deep animosities and implacable attitudes. The very critical first phase of the conference began on 2 May and concluded in early June. It was the most important phase, for we must bear in mind that more than 200 elders and traditional leaders from every part of the country were coming together for the first time — not the first time in 10 years, but the first time in the entire existence of Somalia as a State — seeking to overcome a decade of frustration, fear, anger, suspicion and mistrust, without ever having had contact with each other before. Slowly, this legacy of the past was overcome and replaced with a common purpose: