By SALAD DUHUL
Saturday, November 11, 2006
The latest deal meant to calm Somalia was struck Friday in Mogadishu between the Islamic group, which controls the capital and most of the south, and parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden. Aden acted without authorization, a government spokesman said Saturday.
The speaker is considered the government member most sympathetic to the Islamic movement, which the United States accuses of having ties to al-Qaida. His decision to hold talks without the cooperation of the prime minister and president was seen as a direct challenge to their authority.
"The government does not accept this initiative," the government spokesman, Abdirahman Dinari, told The Associated Press. "Reconciliation is the task of the government."
Late Friday the Islamic group and parliamentarians loyal to the speaker called on the transitional government to back the deal. "This is a first step, and we are headed for peace," said Ibrahim Hassan Adow, the Islamic Courts spokesman for foreign affairs.
The new deal focuses on seven key points, and includes a pledge by both sides not to allow foreign interference in Somalia. It also calls on the international community to maintain a U.N. arms embargo and urges a resumption in government-sanctioned peace talks, which collapsed last week in Khartoum, Sudan. All-out conflict is feared.
Experts say Somalia could become a proxy battleground for neighboring Ethiopia and Eritrea, which broke away from Ethiopia in a 1961-91 civil war and fought another 1998-2000 border war with its rival. Eritrea supports the Islamic militia, while Ethiopia backs the interim government.
A confidential U.N. report obtained recently by The Associated Press said 6,000-8,000 Ethiopian troops were in Somalia or along the border. It also said 2,000 soldiers from Eritrea were inside Somalia. Eritrea denies having any troops in Somalia, while Ethiopia insists it has sent only a few hundred advisers.
Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a dictator and then turned on one another. The government was formed with the help of the U.N. two years ago, but has struggled to assert its authority.
Islamic militants, meanwhile, have been rising since June and now control the capital and most of the country's south. The transitional government is based in Baidoa, 150 miles southwest of the capital.
Source: AP, Nov 11, 2006