[dehai-news] (IOL) Somali opposition based in Eritrea 'refuse' to talk


New Message Reply About this list Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Mon Jul 28 2008 - 17:33:16 EDT


Somali opposition rivals 'refuse' to talk
 
July 28 2008 at 02:59PM
 
Mogadishu - Hardline Somali Islamist Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said on
Monday the exiled opposition would not negotiate with a rival faction
that signed a peace deal with Somalia's transitional government.
 
Splits in the Eritrea-based Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia
(ARS) could further complicate peace prospects in the Horn of Africa
nation, which has suffered 17 years of civil war that has killed
hundreds of thousands.
 
"Reconciliation would be good, but we and the Djibouti group have
reached a point of no return," said Aweys, who is on US and UN lists of
al Qaeda associates.
 
"It's obvious they will not come back and join us," he said from the
Eritrean capital Asmara.
 
A faction led by moderate Sheikh Sharif Ahmed signed a pact in Djibouti
with the interim government in June, outlining the withdrawal of
Ethiopian troops and the deployment of UN peacekeepers. The formal
signing is to take place in Mecca.
 
But Aweys, some other ARS officials and insurgents in Somalia have
rejected the deal.
 
Aweys said last week that he had taken charge of the exiled opposition,
but UN envoy for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah dismissed Aweys'
announcement and said Sheikh Sharif remained the recognised leader.
 
Rebels have been battling Ethiopian and Somali government troops since
early 2007 after Addis Ababa sent thousands of soldiers to help
Somalia's administration oust the Islamic Courts movement led by Aweys
and Ahmed.
 
Since then, near-daily violence of roadside bombs, mortar attacks and
assassinations have wrecked the Somali capital. In the latest violence,
mortars killed five people in northern Mogadishu in overnight clashes.
 
Insecurity and attacks in southern Somalia have forced many aid groups
to scale down or halt humanitarian operations for one of the world's
worst emergencies.
 
At least 2,6-million Somalis were in need of emergency aid at the start
of 2008, according to the United Nations. An estimated 1-million more
will need assistance by the end of 2008, it warned in July.
 
In the breakaway state of Somaliland, which enjoys relative peace
compared to the rest of Somalia, Agriculture Minister Aden Ahmed Elmi
said more than 750 000 people were now in need of food aid.
 
"The soaring prices of essential food items, drought, the scarcity of
rain and insects that destroyed what was sown are the reasons why we
appeal to the international community for food aid," he told journalists
on Sunday.
 
Elmi said Somaliland expected less than 70 percent of the usual annual
harvest.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20080728143330393C254413
<http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=nw20080728143330393C254413&click_
id=68&set_id=1> &click_id=68&set_id=1

         ----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----


New Message Reply About this list Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

webmaster
© Copyright DEHAI-Eritrea OnLine, 1993-2008
All rights reserved