Somalia keeps peace hopes alive
2008-06-02 21:11
Djibouti - Somalia's government said at UN peace talks with the opposition on Monday that it hoped for a peace deal, but Islamist insurgents boycotted them and said they would keep fighting.
The UN Security Council opened talks in neighbouring Djibouti in a bid to persuade Somalia's disparate factions to help end conflict in the lawless Horn of Africa nation.
Somalia's Information Minister Ahmed Abdisalan said an agreement in Djibouti would directly improve the security situation, despite the absence from the talks of al-Shabaab Islamist militants and some factions of the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS).
Impact on the ground
"I believe that when the Somali government and the ARS group who are here agree on a cessation of hostilities that we can influence and have an impact on the ground," he said.
At least 6 500 people were killed last year and more than 1 million Somalis displaced by fighting between Islamist insurgents and Ethiopian-backed government troops.
US and other Western security officials fear al-Qaeda could exploit Somalia's instability and lack of governance to create a safe haven there.
Diplomats from the 15-nation Security Council, on the first leg of a tour of African trouble spots, met Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf and other members of the interim government based in Somalia.
Later they were to meet Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the head of the Eritrea-based ARS and other members of the opposition alliance.
'Great start'
South Africa's UN Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said he was not bothered by the absence of some hardline factions from the talks, which are set to run until June 10.
"You're never going to have all the parties involved from the word go," he said. "You have to start somewhere and this is a great start."
Kumalo said the council could offer an important carrot to Somalia in the form of peacekeepers.
Last month it passed a resolution that said it might send UN troops to Somalia to replace African Union peacekeepers if the political atmosphere and security situation improved.
The Security Council meetings are in Djibouti as near-daily attacks in Somalia make it too dangerous to meet there.