Somalis unsure about accord
2006-06-23 13:59
Mogadishu - Somalis, weary of failed attempts to restore peace, expressed scepticism on Friday that the deal signed between the government and Islamic courts would end fighting for good in the shattered African nation.
Although the hastily-clinched deal signed on Thursday at the Arab League-mediated talks in Khartoum fell short of addressing nitty-gritty of power-sharing in an envisioned joint government, it managed to extract a pledge to end clashes.
Previously, the government regarded the Islamists as a grouping of unlawful anarchists bent on entrenching Sharia law while the Joint Islamic Courts had dismissed President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed as no more than just another warlord.
The Khartoum talks were the first mediation effort in the conflict that flared up and left at least 360 people killed and 2 000 wounded in recent weeks.
Somalis 'are fed up'
But, Somalis saw the deal as a ploy to win aid from oil-rich Arab League states. Abdi Ismail Guled, a militiaman, said: "This deal was signed in order to please the host country, Sudan."
A teacher in Mogadishu, Abdulkadir Hassan, said: "This is a political show calculated to attract funds from the Arab League. Somehow, everybody needs the petrodollars.
"To achieve a real peace, one must use force. The Somalis are fed up of agreements that are signed and subsequently violated."
A trader allied to the Islamists, Ahmed Moalim, said: "We will not take anything serious until the agreement is implemented."
The United Nations, African Union and United States lauded the agreement, in which the transitional government and Islamic tribunals recognised the other's legitimacy.
It also called for an "end to media and military campaigns... the pursuit of dialogue without preconditions in the framework of mutual recognition" and "the judgment of war criminals".
The two sides also agreed to resume talks aimed at resolving outstanding security disputes on July 15 in Khartoum.