[dehai-news] (Reuters) 'Islamist isn't head of the Asmara-based ARS' - UN envoy


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From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Sat Jul 26 2008 - 15:47:35 EDT


Islamist isn't head of Somalia's opposition - UN envoy

26 Jul 26, 2008 - 7:13:33 AM

 
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Somalia's hard-line Islamist Sheikh Hassan
Dahir Aweys has not taken over the country's exiled opposition, despite
his claims to having become its new chairman, a senior U.N. envoy said
on Friday.
 
Earlier this week Aweys, who is on U.S. and U.N. lists of al Qaeda
associates, telephoned major media organizations from Eritrea and
announced he had taken over as chairman of the Alliance for the
Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) from the moderate Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.
 
"He was not elected," U.N. special envoy for Somalia Ahmedou
Ould-Abdallah said in an interview with a small group of journalists at
U.N. headquarters.
 
"The leadership of the ARS has left Asmara (Eritrea's capital) in May,"
he said, adding that Sheikh Sharif remained the ARS's recognized and
legitimate leader.
 
Ould-Abdallah said Aweys' claim was likely part of an internal media
battle between him and others inside the ARS, an umbrella opposition
alliance of the lawless Horn of Africa country. He said that the
hard-line Islamist did not even have the support of 20 percent of the
central committee of the ARS.
 
Somalia's interim government and some members of the ARS initialed a
deal in Djibouti last month calling for the deployment of U.N.
peacekeepers and agreeing to a ceasefire after a month.
 
Aweys and other hard-line Islamists rejected the pact.
 
The Djibouti agreement has not been formally signed. The formal signing
is to take place in Mecca, possibly this month.
 
Ould-Abdallah said holding the signing ceremony in Mecca complicated the
situation, because it will have to be approved and supported by the
Saudis. But it will also have immense symbolic value for the parties.
 
"If you swear in Mecca, it commits you," he said.
 
SECURITY VACUUM
 
Meanwhile, Ould-Abdallah said he has been negotiating with countries and
U.N. officials about preparatory plans for a possible peacekeeping
operation in Somalia. It was not clear yet which countries would be
willing to send troops, though he said it was unlikely any Western
forces would take part.
 
He said there was discussion of a force of between 8,000 and 10,000
troops. Among the potential contributors could be Pakistan, India,
Indonesia, Turkey or Jordan, he added.
 
Ould-Abdallah U.N. troops were would enable the phased withdrawal of
Ethiopian troops, which all members of the ARS want out of the country,
without creating a security vacuum.
 
AMISOM, the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, has authorized
the deployment of 8,000 troops but has only 2,600 on the ground at
present. The AU said earlier this week that it was not up to the task of
stabilizing the country and asked the Security Council to replace AMISOM
with U.N. forces.
 
While the 15 Security Council members all agree the situation is dire,
most have been reluctant to send U.N. peacekeepers to Somalia, where
warlords, Islamist insurgents and Ethiopian-backed Somali government
forces are battling.
 
Talk of U.N. intervention is still colored by memories of a battle in
1993 in which 18 U.S. troops and hundreds of Somali militiamen died. The
incident inspired a Hollywood movie, "Black Hawk Down" and marked the
beginning of the end for a U.S.-U.N. peacekeeping force.
 
The Security Council is expecting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's
report on peacekeeping scenarios by August 15.
 
Source: Reuters
 
 
 
 

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