From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Sun Jan 25 2009 - 13:45:06 EST
ARS says Sheik Sharif will run for presidency
Posted: 1/25/2009 8:25:00 PM
DJIBOUTI (Sh. M. Network)-The Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia
(ARS) said on Sunday their leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed will run for
the country's presidency.
"We decided to name Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed as our candidate tothe
nation's president," said Abdirahman Ibbi, a spokesman for the
opposition.
"I am ready to run for the country's presidency with the help of our
Allah and the Somali people," said Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, the
chairman of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia.
Somalia's parliament met in neighbouring Djibouti on Saturday to discuss
how to include the moderate Islamist opposition in a new government that
can try and bring peace to the Horn of Africa nation.
The international community has been urging Somalis to settle their
differences, expand the parliament and elect a new president next week,
in time for a summit of regional leaders.
Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the moderate Islamist leader from the opposition
Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS), told the legislators it
was time to join forces, oppose the perpetrators of violence and end the
bloodshed.
"This is a day to correct past mistakes. We have to take this historic
opportunity," he told the opening of the talks. "There's no excuse for
Somalis to kill each other."
The international community hopes a more inclusive Somali government
will be able to reach out to armed groups who are still fighting the
government and targeting African Union peacekeepers in the capital
Mogadishu.
Shabelle Media Network
By Ahmednor Mohamed Farah
<http://www.somalilandtimes.net/sl/2007/300/sheikh_sharif.jpg>
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