This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.Somalia has taken a big stepalong its so-called roadmapfor ending a period of political transitiontoward a new government.On Friday, in Nairobi, Somali officialssigned an agreement on a proposed constitution.Augustine Mahiga, the United Nationsspecial representative for Somalia,welcomed the signing of several important measureson the roadmap.AUGUSTINE MAHIGA: "This stage in Nairobiis probably the most critical because it ushersin the accomplishment of one of the major stepsto end the transition."Six parties have signed the roadmap,including the leaders of Somalia'sTransitional Federal Government and regional governments.The signers also include a representative of an influential militia.Friday's agreement in the Kenyan capitalfollowed more than two days of debate.Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohammed Ali saidthe debate was mainly about the size of the future parliamentand the methods for choosing future lawmakers.ABDIWELI ALI: "It went through a difficult process,but with all the challenges that we faced,we finally delivered to the Somali people."A National Constituent Assemblywith eight hundred twenty-five membersmust still approve the draft constitution.After that, the constitution will be considered provisionaluntil Somalis hold a national vote to make it permanent.But the Somali government and international officialshave said the security situationremains too dangerous to hold such a referendum.The assembly will meet in Mogadishu next month.The officials gathered in Nairobidecided to delay the assembly meeting by two weeks.That delay will leave only one month to elect a parliamentand a new president by August twentieth.That is the deadline agreed to by the signers of the roadmapfor ending an eight-year-long transition.Somalia has not had a strong central governmentsince the fall of President Mohamed Siad Barrein nineteen ninety-one.The Transitional Federal Government was establishedin two thousand four but has little real power.Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world.Three military offensives are underway againstal-Shabab militants in central and southern Somalia.VOA recently did a survey of Somalis to get their opinionsabout their proposed constitution.The survey offers a rare look at the political viewsin a country torn by war and drought.More than three thousand men and women answered the survey.Eighty-three percent of those in the survey saidthey want a constitution with a strong central government.Eighty-seven percent said the constitutionshould be based in Sharia, or Islamic law.Sixty-eight percent agreed that womenshould be allowed to hold political positions.Senior editor Harun Maruf in VOA's Somali Service saysthe service teamed with Google to do the survey.HARUN MARUF: "There was never political surveywith this depth and effort in Somalia.This would be the first one."The service collected more thantwenty thousand phone numbers for the survey.Harun Maruf says the militant-controlled areasproved the most difficult, as expected.HARUN MARUF: "You would call somebodywho lives in a territory controlled by al-Shabab,and al-Shabab will know.They issued a statement saying that anybodywho participates in the constitution processwould be put to death."And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.Go to 51voa.com for more...