Kenya’s Special Envoy to the Somalia peace talks that have been going on in Eldoret, says the talks are still on track. Mr. Elijah Mwangale denied press reports that the talks, known as Somalia National Reconciliation Conference, were on the verge of collapse. He said the conference is now in the second of a three-phase programme and six reconciliation committees have been meeting since December 3 2002 to address the core issues in the process such as federalism and provisional Charter. The envoy, who heads the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Technical Committee, was forced to come the defence of his committee after delegates to the talks headed back home at the weekend, accusing the committee of high-handedness and incompetence. But Mr. Mwangale said those Somalia delegates were forced to leave following a recommendation by the IGAD committee and the Somalia Leaders Committee to slash the total number of delegates from 700 to a manageable 396. “Many of the Somali nationals leaving Kenya were not invited to the conference and have not participated in it while others were involved in the first phase that ended on November 15 last year,” he added. He termed as malicious allegations of corruption made by the departing delegates saying they were only bitter because they had been asked to leave. Mr. Mwangale said the IGAD Technical Committee on Somalia does not handle any finances and that the conference had not received any funding in the last two months.