TFG expresses willingness to negotiate with Shabaab

Hiiraan Online
Friday, September 09, 2011

Somali PM Abdiwali Ali

Nairobi, Kenya (HOL) - Somali Prime Minister, Abdiwali Ali, declared that his government is open to have negotiations with the terrorist group Al-Shabaab, according to an interview with the BBC yesterday.

The Prime Minister Ali set a precondition for the direct negotiations with the Shabaab, which is a total disarmament.

However, it’s not clear how Shabaab would be receptive to that call, given their belligerence and uncompromising attitude towards Somalia’s weak Transitional Federal Government, TFG.

But the Mr. Ali indicated that “there are signs that show Al-shabaab’s interest for entering negotiations with the TFG and we look forward to that.”

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Clearly, this is not the first time the TFG has summoned the opposition groups to the negotiating table to end their differences through dialogue. But the Shabaab considers the TFG a foreign instrument and calls its leaders infidels.

“If they take the disarmament option and embrace the peace, then we will accommodate for them a place in the government” said the Mr. Ali.

But an observer, who follows the Shabaab evolution, said that such calls hardly entice Shabaab leadership to opt dialogue over the violence that brands their inflexible political ideology.

Another observer who insisted to remain anonymous said, “TGF’s call seems to be a premature and that is understandable because it’s entirely based on Al-shabaab’s recent retreat from Mogadishu which they presumably took as a sign of weakness.”

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