Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Mogadishu - The chairman of the Union of Islamic Courts that controls most of southern Somalia on Wednesday called on all remaining ministers within the beleaguered interim government to resign after some 29 had already quit their jobs in a single week.

'I applaud the gesture by those who resigned,' Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa from his home in Somalia's central Galgaud district.

'They are nationalists trying to rescue their country because no intelligent person can endure what Gedi and Ethiopia want to do in Somalia. They are trying to persuade us to accept to be recolonized, but they must know this is 2006.'

Aweys invited the former ministers to join the Islamic courts and 'help bring peace and security back to Somalia.'

The transitional government's weak authority is limited to Baidoa, a town some 250 kilometres north-west of the capital Mogadishu, while Prime Minister Gedi's hold on power seems increasingly perilous despite narrowly defeating a no-confidence vote Sunday.

Meanwhile, a regional grouping urged the two belligerent parties to attend talks in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on a ceasefire that would pave the way for an international peacekeeping force.

Gedi has reportedly requested a postponement of the talks while his rival, Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, was said to be waiting for an aircraft to lead a 15-member delegation to the talks Wednesday.

The Islamic Courts also indicated its willingness to allow a delegation to represent it at the Arab League-sponsored talks.