Somalia's disparate leaders have agreed on the basic structure of a new Parliament and government to replace the fragile transitional body that has failed to bring peace to the war-torn country.
Constant infighting, rampant corruption and bloody attacks by Islamist Shebab insurgents have undermined Somalia's unelected Transitional Federal Government (TFG), whose Western-backed mandate ends in August.
Somalia's president, the presidents of the breakaway Puntland and Galmudug regions, and the commander of the powerful anti-Shebab militia Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa signed the deal under UN auspices.
The accord proposes a parliamentary system for anarchic Somalia, with both Puntland and Galmudug recognized as states within a federal system.
A new 225-member lower house - including at least 30 percent women - will be nominated by "traditional elders assisted by prominent civil society members," the agreement reads, released late Saturday after a three-day meeting.
An upper house of 54 members will also be nominated, drawn from the different regions and clans of the fragmented country.
However, Al Qaeda allied Shebab fighters immediately condemned the deal.
AFP