Islamists delay peace talks

2006-10-31 11:51

Khartoum - Somalia's powerful Islamist movement on Tuesday refused to participate in peace talks with the country's transitional government, delaying a third round of talks aimed at averting an all-out war in the lawless African nation.

Officials said Islamic leaders in Mogadishu had said that talks couldn't go forward unless Ethiopian troops deployed in Somalia withdrew and unless Kenya was excluded as co-mediator, and had instructed their negotiators to request a delay.

An Arab League mediator said: "The Islamic are insisting on the two conditions and say they will not attend the talks if the conditions are not met.

"But, now they have asked for an extra hour for consultation with their leaders in Mogadishu and will therefore delay the meeting that was scheduled to open at 10:00."

Islamists seize Mogadishu

The Somali government delegation that arrived in the Sudanese capital on Monday said it would not accept pre-conditions from the other side, a position that threatened to jeopardise the fragile negotiations amid fears of all-out war and regional conflict.

The Arab League-mediated peace talks were the latest in a series of internationally-backed attempts to avoid an all-out war in Somalia, whose last functional government collapsed in 1991 after the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

The rise of the Islamists - who had seized swathes of southern and central Somalia, including Mogadishu - had threatened the authority of the already weakened transitional government.

A feared Islamic advance towards the government base prompted Ethiopia to deploy troops. The Islamists had accused Addis Ababa of "declaring war" and called for a "holy war".

Kenya appointed to co-chair negotiations

Mainly Christian Ethiopia denied reports that it had as many as 8 000 soldiers in Somalia, but acknowledges sending military advisers to help protect the government from "jihadists", some of whom were accused of links with al-Qaeda.

Kenya was appointed this month to co-chair the negotiations with the Arab League, which had been the sole mediator at two previous rounds, after the government complained of Arab bias.

Kenya held the presidency of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a group of seven east African nations that brokered the formation of the government in 2004 and now planned to send peacekeepers there.

But, the bloc was deeply split over the proposed mission, with members Eritrea and Djibouti opposing the force; Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, the Somali government in favour; and Sudan backing off earlier support.

The Islamists had vowed to fight any foreign troops on Somali territory and, in their letter, accused IGAD and the African Union, which had endorsed the force, of creating "new hostilities".

- AFP