Friday, November 03, 2006
NAIROBI (AFP) - The speaker of Somalia's parliament said on Friday that he would travel to Mogadishu at the weekend in an attempt to avert looming war between the country's powerful Islamist movement and weak government.
Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden said he would meet Islamist officials in the capital on Sunday to attempt to broker an agreement following the collapse this week of peace talks in Sudan and soaring fears of all-out conflict.
"The unfortunate event of the inconclusive Khartoum meeting... caused serious concern for the parliament, the people of Somalia and I am sure for the international community," he told a news conference in the Kenyan capital.
newsinisideAs the two sides girded for battle outside the government seat of Baidoa, test firing rockets and artillery for a third straight day, Aden said he believed there was a real risk of civil war that could engulf the region.
"Therefore, I feel obliged as the speaker of the Somali parliament to take necessary action to salvage the intra-Somali dialogue," he said.
"For this purpose, I intend to lead a parliamentary delegation to Mogadishu to meet the (Islamist) leadership and seek their cooperation to avoid war and bloodshed," Aden said.
He said the mission had not been authorised by the government but was a responsible initiative that would also explore with the Islamists ways to promote dialogue inside Somalia.
Before Wednesday's failure of negotiations, two previous rounds of Arab League-mediated talks in Sudan had produced interim accords that both sides have accused the other of violating.
The third round failed to get started when the Islamists demanded the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops allegedly in Somalia to protect the government as a condition to meet with the administration's delegation.
Ethiopia denies it has thousands of soldiers in Somalia but acknowledges sending military advisers to help the weak interim government deal with the "jihadists," whose rise some liken to that of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
On Thursday Addis Ababa said that the Islamists, who have called for a holy war against Ethiopia, "were making conflict inevitable."
The deteriorating situation has fuelled fears of a regional conflict in the Horn of Africa, possibly drawing in Ethiopia and its arch-foe neighbour Eritrea.
Source: AFP, Nov 3, 2006