From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Wed Aug 20 2008 - 16:46:54 EDT
Somalia-Islamist leader denounces new round of Djibouti talks
Wednesday 20 August 2008
The chairman of a rival faction of the Eritrea-based Alliance for
Re-liberation of Somalia Sheikh, Hasan Dahir Aweys, has condemned the
second phase of peace talks between the Transitional Federal Government
of Somalia and the opposition groups in Dijbouti.
Speaking to Mareeg online Sheikh Aweys has said the on-going talks will
not bring any result terming it "a waste of time". He also stressed that
the conference will not support the Somali people because those meetings
are not responsible to the people of Somalia.
He further said foreigners whom he did not name were the prime cause of
the problems and unrest in Somalia as they created hostility, hatred,
and fresh political fighting.
The chairman of the Eritrean faction of the Alliance for Re-liberation
of Somalia also denounced Ethiopian forces in Somalia for attacking
civilians in Mogadishu urging civilians to move out of the areas of
fighting.
Finally, he said his faction will continue fighting Ethiopian forces in
Somalia and said no agreement could be achieved with the presence of
Ethiopian troops in Somalia.
Sheikh Aweys statement comes as the second phase of peace talks between
the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and the Alliance for
Re-liberation of Somalia opened in Djibouti.
This comes as Somalia's Ethiopia-backed transitional government and some
opposition figures have formally signed a peace deal reached two months
ago at U.N.-led talks in Djibouti. But with the leadership on both sides
deeply divided, the pact is not expected to stem the ongoing violence in
Somalia.
A U.N. press statement says Somalia's transitional government and a
faction of the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia
formally signed the peace agreement late Monday in Djibouti.
In addition to the joint call for the replacement of Ethiopian troops in
Somalia by a U.N. stabilization force in the coming months, the United
Nations says the warring parties promised to continue the political
dialogue and they strongly condemned acts of violence against innocent
civilians.
A man is helped by others after he was injured when a mortar shell fell
in the Bakara market in Mogadishu, 10 Aug 2008
The signing should have prompted celebrations in Somalia, where more
than 8,000 people have been killed and more than one million uprooted in
19 months of fighting pitting Ethiopian and government soldiers against
Islamist-led insurgents.
Instead, a member of Somalia's interim parliament, Issa Waheliye Moalim,
says there are fresh concerns that the government could disintegrate
amid an escalating conflict between Somalia's interim President
Abdullahi Yusuf and interim Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein.
"Almost all institutions are paralyzed," said Issa Waheliye Moalim. "It
[the government] is very weak. Also security-wise, it is getting weak
day-by-day. You see what is happening in Mogadishu. If the government
was strong and we are working, that should not happen."
The rift in the Somali leadership emerged last month after Prime
Minister Hussein fired powerful factional leader Mohammed Dheere as
mayor of Mogadishu, accusing the mayor of financial mismanagement and of
failing to improve security in the Somali capital.
President Yusuf opposed Mr. Hussein's decision and the president's
supporters in parliament have threatened to suspend the prime minister.
Both men were summoned to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where they
met Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Saturday to discuss the
political crisis. Somali and Ethiopian officials have declined to
comment on the meeting.
In June, disagreements over the Djibouti peace talks split the
leadership of the Eritrea-based opposition alliance between moderate
Islamist leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and hard-line cleric Sheik
Hassan Dahir Aweys.
Ahmed's faction endorsed the June 9 agreement in Djibouti. But Aweys and
his supporters, including a militant Islamist group called the Shabab,
rejected it, saying the deal failed to call for an immediate withdrawal
of Ethiopian troops from Somalia.
A 90-day cease-fire, stipulated in the June 9 agreement, was never
implemented, further deepening a humanitarian crisis that aid workers
say is among the worst in the world.
Ethiopia intervened in Somalia in late 2006 to oust an Islamist movement
led by Ahmed and Aweys and to install Somalia's secular government in
power in Mogadishu.
By: Abdi Guled
Email: naasir0513@hotmail.com
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