From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Tue Jul 15 2008 - 08:33:00 EDT
Somalia: Opposition official vows to drive out Ethiopian troops
Tuesday 15 July 2008
The social affairs secretary of the Eritrea-based Alliance for the
Re-liberation of Somalia [ARS], Col Umar Hashi Adan, who is currently in
localities near Beled Weyne town in Hiraan Region, central Somalia, has
said that they ARS would fight against the Ethiopian troops.
Col Hashi said that it could not possible for him spend nights at hills
near Beled Weyne, while the Ethiopian troops stay just five kilometers
from the town.
"It would not be possible for me to stay on hilltops while the
Ethiopian army officers to spend nights in Beled Weyne town, We would
carry out heavy fighting against the Ethiopian troops, until we drive
them out of Beled Weyne, as well as Hiraan Region as whole," said Col
Hashi.
Responding to a question of whether their fighters have the capability
to drive out the Ethiopian troops, he replied affirmatively, stressing
that the Ethiopian troops have been driven out of many parts of the
country.
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the spiritual leader of the former Islamic
Courts Union and now a member of the opposition group, has rejected the
agreement signed Monday between Somali transitional government and the
opposition in Djibouti, local media reported Tuesday.
Some of the ARS's members have supported the outcome of Djibouti talks
agreement while others including Alshabab have rejected .
When the peace agreement was suddenlt signed by both somali government
and some ARS members Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys told Shabelle radio by
phone from Asmara, the Eritrean capital, that he was against the
agreement between the transitional government and some leaders of the
Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), of which he is a
member." The talks ended with what we have been warning the Somali
people all along," Aweys told Shabelle Radio in Mogadishu." Previously
there were no delegates representing the ARS to Djibouti. We saw no
developments from those so called peace talks. The jihad will carry on,"
Aweys said. "We will not recognize what they said that they've
achieved."
He called on the Somali people not to support the peace agreement.
"Somali people want wide-ranging conformity, two gathered persons cannot
accomplish solution," he angrily said. The Somali government and members
of ARS lead by the chairman, Shiek Sharif Shiek Ahmed, late Monday
agreed on the cessation of hostilities for 90 days and the withdrawal of
Ethiopian troops with 120 days following the deployment of UN
peacekeeping forces. The ARS split into two factions over the talks with
the transitional government. The hard-line members opposed to any talks
with the government as long as Ethiopian troops are in Somali.
Another armed Islamist group, the Al-shabaab movement, which did not
take part in the peace talks, has not made any comments on the
cease-fire deal. The leaders of Al-Shabaab have maintained that they
will not negotiate with the transitional government as long as troops
from Ethiopia, Somalia's eastern neighbor, are in Somalia.
Somalia has been without a strong central government since the ouster of
former Somali leader Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.
Abdi Guled
naasir0513@hotmail.com
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