At last the clouds of hope have begun to gather again as leaders of the federal government and federal member states prepare to meet for another round of talks on the electoral process.

We think this is crucial and the outcome of this meeting could either build the positive relations between parties or totally damage their confidence and dampen any hopes of coming out of the current fiasco.

So who should do what? First, we encourage the parties to keep an open mind while coming to the table. Somalia has gone through lots of confusing moments lately and it is only logical now for leaders to trade off the good choices and abandon the bad ones. That means that leaders must accept to negotiate and no threats should be made to those who object or raise reservations.

Second, there must be absolute respect. In the past, meetings ended with accusations and counter-accusations. We think that any comments made in public after the upcoming meeting should be based on mutual respect and be an actual true story of events. We caution against blame games being played in the public arena. While we understand there could be shortcomings, prudent leadership demands that public spats be avoided at all costs.

Which brings us to the third point: What exactly will the agenda be? Is it to iron out the issues of the composition of the electoral management teams? Is it to discuss security issues or costs of contesting in various levels of elections and where elections should be? This must be made open from the start. In the past, leaders spent days discussing issues back and forth without determining a proper agenda. We think that it would be chaotic to attempt resolving all the pending issues in one go, which is why there should be a step by step guide.

That means that the international community has a crucial role to play here. It means that Somalia’s donors and partners must rally stakeholders to support this cause. In the past, some donors have subtly encouraged the federal government to bully federal states, something which backfired more than once. We think they have learnt from their mistakes and we expect that there won’t be any name calling this time. Both levels of government are approaching this meeting with the knowledge that all stakeholders look up to them: Political parties, civil society groups and aspiring candidates all want an election that will be settled fairly through the polls.

The international community can do better in helping rebuild the country not by taking sides or prodding up leaders whose mandate has expired. On the contrary, they must encourage a constant search for a suitable process that will provide an opportunity for renewal of mandate or replacement of leaders through a free and fair election.

Another misstep, this time, will mean that the international community will carry the stain of Somalia’s debacle for longer. The choice is openly theirs to make. But the destiny of Somalis rests entirely in the hands of these leaders of the federal government and federal states.