UN team prop Somali peace talks
2008-06-02 13:34
Djibouti - A United Nations Security Council team arrived in Djibouti on Monday for talks on Somalia's 17-year-old conflict a day after President Abdullahi Yusuf escaped an attack on his plane.
The delegation, led by South Africa's United Nations ambassador Dumisani Kumalo and his British counterpart John Sawers, was to meet government representatives and exiled opposition officials.
The two sides opened new discussions in the Red Sea state of Djibouti at the weekend to set an agenda for peace talks. The first discussions ended on May 16 but the rivals did not engage in direct talks.
"We are here to listen to them. We'll meet with the TFG delegation and President Yusuf and the ARS delegation," Sawers said, referring to the Transitional Federal Government and the Islamist-dominated Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia.
"There is a need for broadening the political base of the TFG. ARS has to be involved."
Civil war
The talks were being held against a backdrop of almost daily clashes between Islamist insurgents and Ethiopia-backed Somali government troops.
The clashes had killed at least 6 000 civilians in the past year, according to international rights groups and aid agencies.
On Sunday, a mortar exploded near Yusuf's plane just after he boarded it to head for the UN-sponsored talks. No one was hurt.
"The attack yesterday on President Yusuf is an indication we have to move fast," Kumalo said.
"We have to move forward. Our visit is an opportunity for the Somalis (to have) a chance to engage the council and tell us how they see the way forward, the reconciliation.
"It is also to show them that the international community is caring for Somalia."
The Horn of Africa country had been plagued by a seemingly endless civil war since the 1991 ousting of former president Mohamed Siad Barre. More than a dozen peace initiatives had failed.