For quite some time now, Somalia has been absent from the international headlines. This will soon change. In the next two months or so, Somalia will once again be in the media spotlight but this time the beleaguered nation will return to the folds of the civilized community of nations. That is if the bold and pragmatic new peace initiative by the Republic of Djibouti continues on its current course.

The Djibouti peace plan was first put forth by the president of this Red Sea coastal country, Ismail Omar Gheulle, when he gave a passionate speech last year at the General Assembly on behalf of the Somali people. The heart of his message was that Somalia should not be left for the warlords, and with that move he adroitly took over Somalia's peace process.

He later said, ''I was told that no one could understand the Somalis" to which he replied, ''We do understand them." This is literally so because the people of Djibouti are ethnic Somalis and they speak in the same vernacular as all Somalis.

Since that UN speech, President Gheulle's national reconciliation proposal for Somalia has been endorsed by the secretary-general of the United Nations. Similarly, the U.S. government, the EC, the Organization of African Unity, the Arab League and a host of regional and international players have thrown their full support behind his plan.

More importantly, the vast majority of Somalis, both inside and outside the country, earnestly give their backing to Djibouti's peace proposal. The main reason for this across-the-board support is that, as Djibouti ambassador to the U.S. Roble Olhaye put it in a recent Somali radio interview, ''This peace initiative is the first real Somali peace process."

Djibouti's new peace process calls for the people of Somalia to look at the problem and search for solutions. Unlike past peace plans where a handful of warlords were treated as though they were the divine spokesmen of the Somali people, President Gheulle bypassed the warlords and instead invited Somalis from all walks of life. He appealed to traditional tribal elders and women's groups, to educated academics and elder statesmen, to tackle their nation's quandary and to hammer out a national solution.

As a consequence, an estimated 800 Somalis led by civil society groups are now in the capital of this republic, which is also called Djibouti. They are all participating in a historic national reconciliation conference, which began May 2. These Somalis will establish a national government with a prime minister, a president and national assembly as it is stipulated in the first Constitution of the Somali Republic.

According to Djibouti projections, this transitional national Somali government will be recognized immediately by all the important international players such as the United Nations, the United States, the Organization of African Unity and the Arab League. Right after its inauguration, either the secretary-general of the UN or the U.S. government will convene an international donor conference where funds will be raised for the new administration.

Djibouti's new approach, where preference is given to the real stakeholders in the future of Somalia rather than the warlords (whose zero-sum mentality locked them in a perpetual impasse), makes observers of Somali politics optimistic. For instance, a large contingent of Somali intellectuals and the traditional tribal elders (whose area of specialization has always been conflict resolution) made use of this opportunity to eclipse the warlords who in the past ten years heartlessly held all the Somali people hostage.

The Djibouti peace plan significantly undermines the future political role of the warlords in the new Somalia. The warlords find themselves stripped of the fake camouflage outfits they had been wearing for years. In the past five months, no warlord would dare assert anymore that they represent the interests of Somalia. To the embarrassment of many, the traditional elders of each Somali clan as well as a host of other civil society groups, including religious leaders, business-people and women's groups, went to Djibouti insisting and explaining that the warlords do not and will not represent them in any way, shape or form.

Furthermore, when certain so-called politicians attempted to publicly oppose Djibouti's peace process, their own traditional elders (who wield a lot of moral power, if not the balance of power) publicly chastised them and went to Djibouti to offer their support and full participation at the national conference.

To further shrink whatever was left of the warlords' clout, the Djibouti president stated in unequivocal terms that the warlords are only allowed to come to the meeting as individuals, not as representatives of anyone. Moreover, they were told that they will not be allowed to hold the country hostage and if they try to undermine this national reconciliation process they will face war crimes charges.

The people of Djibouti maintained perfect neutrality during the Somali civil war and, as a result, they are universally seen as the perfect peacemakers by Somalis of all regions. Furthermore, Somalia helped the people of Djibouti attain their independence from France in 1977 and the people of Djibouti have always wanted to pay back that prized brotherly help. As a consequence, the whole Djibouti population stood up to bring Somalia back on its feet. It seems to me, as it does to millions of Somalis, that this peace plan is an initiative that came at the right time and was brought forth by the right people.

The Djibouti Peace Plan for Somalia started in Djibouti on May 2. By June, the Somali Republic will be resurrected and eight million Somalis, including thousands of Somali Canadians, will once again walk with their heads held high.

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