Each committee is composed of 30 members and will report back to a plenary session at the weekend, with the aim of putting forward specific proposals. Over a thousand Somalis are present in Arta, Djibouti, where the Somali National Peace Conference is being held.
Representation is said to be drawn from all clans in Somalia.
Somaliland has rejected the conference, but there is some clan representation from the self-declared independent republic. The Governor of Sool, northern Somalia, has reportedly resigned from the Somaliland administration in order to attend. The administration in the autonomous state of Puntland has also issued a number of strong statements rejecting the conference, saying it will lead to further conflict. He has since been sacked by Yusuf. Sources at Arta said one of the attending elders had returned to Puntland to talk to Yusuf about the ongoing peace process in Djibouti.