Peace 'possible in Somalia'

2008-07-11 10:59

The Hague - The prime minister of war-torn Somalia called on Thursday on his countrymen to support a month-old peace agreement and insisted peace was possible despite long years of civil war and instability.

"After 18 years of difficulties and problems, today there is a new hope that peace and stability may again reign in Somalia," Nur Hassan Hussein told reporters in The Hague after meeting Dutch aid minister Bert Koenders.

Hussein called on all Somalis to back a peace agreement agreed on June 09 at United Nations-mediated talks in Djibouti.

Peace was possible "if the government, the traditional leaders, the religious leaders, the diaspora play their role", he said.

Last month's deal gave both sides one month to implement a cessation of hostilities but it was opposed by Islamist hardliners who had continued their struggle, insisting on an Ethiopian withdrawal as a precondition to talks.

Guerrilla war

The 1991 overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre saw the country descend into a near two decade-long civil war, turning the nation of 10 million into one of the most dangerous states in the world.

Islamist militants had waged a guerrilla war since they were ousted by joint Somali-Ethiopian forces in early 2007.

Hussein admitted that ongoing unrest and killings made it extremely difficult to provide the east African state with the humanitarian assistance it so vitally needs.

Osman Ali Ahmed, the head of the UN Development Programme in Somalia, was shot dead on Sunday by unknown gunmen as he left a mosque in the capital Mogadishu.

The killing of the top UN figure in the country was only the latest of a number of slayings of aid workers. Charities had repeatedly appealed to the warring sides in Somalia to spare humanitarian staff.

The African Union mission to Somalia had deployed 2 600 peacekeepers in Somalia - well short of a promised 8 000 troops. So far it had failed to stem the violence.

- AFP