Somalia's Islamic militia rebuffs U.N.
Associated Press
July 25, 2006
Sheik Ahmed
MOGADISHU, Somalia - The leader of the Islamic militia that has taken hold of southern Somalia on Tuesday rebuffed a U.N. plan for peace talks with the government, saying he will not negotiate until the government expels all foreign troops.
"Until Ethiopian troops leave Somali soil, we will never negotiate with the government," said Islamic militia leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys.
Both Somali government leaders and the Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry have denied Ethiopian soldiers were in Somalia. However, many witnesses have confirmed their presence, in uniform.
Tuesday's statement by Aweys was the latest downward turn in an increasingly difficult international effort to negotiate peace between the powerful Islamic militants and the weak government, which has international support but no military.
It came as a U.N. envoy was in Somalia on Tuesday trying to arrange peace talks in Sudan aimed at avoiding more fighting in Somalia and a potentially bigger conflagration.
While Aweys, who has been accused by Somali secular leaders and the West of links to al-Qaida, ruled out any talks, a more moderate member of his Supreme Islamic Courts Council left open the possibility.
After meeting in Mogadishu with Francois Lonseny Fall, the U.N. special representative to Somalia, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed said the group's "peace committee" still had to consider the United Nations' call for negotiations, which would be held next week in Khartoum.
In an apparent acknowledgement that Ethiopian troops were complicating peace efforts, Fall told reporters: "The U.N. is always calling on maximum restraint from neighboring countries and for them not to interfere at this particular moment in Somalia."
He also praised the Islamic union. After seeing the streets of Mogadishu without roadblocks or gunmen, he said it had "achieved great things in Mogadishu. I have seen it."
The troops from neighboring Ethiopia crossed into Somalia five days ago to protect Somalia's government at Baidoa, 150 miles northwest of Mogadishu, from advancing Islamic militants. The arrival of the Ethiopians heightened tensions among Somalis because Ethiopia, a largely Christian country, is the longtime enemy of Somalia, which is mostly Muslim.
A round of peace talks that had been scheduled Saturday fell apart when the government refused to attend and the Islamic group walked out. The government and the fundamentalist Islamic militias reached a "nonaggression pact" in June, but the Islamic group has made clear that it sees itself as the country's main authority.
The Islamic militia's seizure of power has prompted grave concerns in the United States, which accuses the group of harboring al-Qaida leaders responsible for deadly 1998 bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
Fall also met with the government in Baidoa — the only town controlled by the government — where a top official said it was ready for the talks.
"We will go to Khartoum without any preconditions," Abdirizak Adam, President Abdullahi Yusuf's chief of staff, said after the meeting in the presidential compound, which was surrounded by hundreds of soldiers in mismatched uniforms. The meeting room had plush furniture, wall-to-wall carpet and heavy curtain blocking out almost all outside light.
A government spokesman said talks still could go on with moderate members of the Islamic militia, even if Aweys was rejecting them.
"Aweys is a terrorist, so it not surprising that he is refusing talks," Salad Ali Jeeley said. "We hope the moderate Islamists will attend the meeting."
Somalia has been without an effective central government since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, carving much of the country into armed camps ruled by violence and clan law.
The government was established almost two years ago with the support of the U.N. to serve as a transitional body to help Somalia emerge from anarchy. But the leadership, which includes some warlords linked to the violence of the past, has failed to establish any power.
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Associated Press writers Salad Duhul and Mohamed Sheikh Nor in Mogadishu, Mohamed Olad Hassan in Baidoa and Les Neuhaus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, contributed to this report.
No peace talks before Ethiopian troop withdrawal: Aweys
MOGADISHU, July 26 (AFP) - The supreme leader of Somalia's Islamic courts union has rejected peace talks with the government unless Ethiopia withdraws its troops from the lawless country.
Islamic Courts Militia burn an Ethiopian flag in Mogadishu, Monday, July 24, 2004. (AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor)
"There will be no negotiations as long as Ethiopian troops are occupying parts of Somalia. They have to be withdrawn immediately and unconditionally," said Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a hardline cleric who heads the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS).
Last week, Ethiopian troops moved into Somalia to protect the transitional government based in the south-central town of Baidoa, fearing an Islamic advance to seize the provincial outpost.
Despite numerous eyewitness accounts of uniformed Ethiopian soldiers in Baidoa, the Somali government and Addis Ababa have vehemently denied their presence in the town -- or anywhere else in Somalia.
"If this government based in Baidoa is for Somalis, there is no reason to say that Ethiopia is protecting it from the people of Somalia," said Aweys, speaking by telephone from central Somali region of Galgudud.
In addition, he rejected Addis Ababa's claims that there were foreign fighters in Somalia backing the Islamists who control swathes of southern Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu.
"Ethiopia's limping excuse that there are foreign fighters in Somalia is not true. It is an excuse to invade and occupy Somalia," Aweys added.
Earlier, the government, under pressure from the United Nations, confirmed that it would send a delegation to Khartoum to negotiate with the Islamists, dropping its opposition to the talks aimed at preventing the country from sinking into further turmoil.
But visiting UN Special Representative for Somalia Francois Fall lauded the Islamists for partially restoring order in the capital, while urging them to pursue dialogue.
"I see what has been done in Mogadishu, and I want all of Somalia to be like that," he told Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a senior SICS leader, at a joint news conference in Mogadishu, where he arrived after holding talks with President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed in Baidoa.
"I can talk to you as an African. I am appealing to you ... to continue the dialogue," Fall said.
The Islamists, accused of having links with extremists, complained that international community had ignored them even though they were only interested in peace.
"The Somali people are peace-loving people, and we are here to help them achieve their goals. We are not here to get power and make money, but we are here to enforce law and order," Ahmed said.
"We dislodged people who were resisting peace in the past 15 years, but the UN secretary general (Kofi Annan) said he does not know who dislodged those people from Mogadishu. That is undermining our efforts, but we continue to pursue peace in Somalia," he added.
Ahmed said that a peace agreement "cannot be reached as long as foreign troops are in the country."
Somalia, a nation of about 10 million people, plunged into anarchy in 1991 when the government of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled.
Somalis vow to fight Ethiopia
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Thousands of enraged Somali demonstrators vowed to fight troops from neighboring Ethiopia, which has sent soldiers across the border to protect Somalia's weak government from Islamic militants.
The protesters, who packed a stadium in the capital, Mogadishu, burned an Ethiopian flag and carried signs that said, "We Must Fight Them!" Ethiopia, a largely Christian country, is the longtime enemy of Somalia, which is mostly Muslim.
The rally was organized by the Supreme Islamic Courts Council militia, which seized control of the capital and much of southern Somalia after months of bloody battles. The militia, whose top leader has been linked to al Qaeda, has installed strict religious rule, sparking fears it will become a Taliban-style regime.
"I came here to show that the presence of Ethiopian troops in Somalia is illegal," said Amina Hagi, a mother of four in Mogadishu, where anti-Ethiopian sentiment runs high.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, carving much of the country into armed camps ruled by violence and clan law.
A new government, which includes some warlords linked to the violence of the past, was established two years ago with the support of the United Nations. But the body wields no real power, has no military and only operates in Baidoa, 150 miles (240 kilometers) from Mogadishu.
The Islamic militia stepped in and seized control of most of southern Somalia -- prompting grave concerns in the United States, which accuses the group of harboring al Qaeda leaders responsible for deadly 1998 bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Ethiopian and Somali government officials deny Ethiopian troops are in the country, but Somali witnesses in several towns reported seeing them cross from Ethiopia four days ago and go first to Baidoa, the only town held by the government, and then to nearby Wajid.
"The Ethiopians have denied the occupation in our land, but we shall show the world corpses or POWs from their ranks," Sheik Muqtar Robow, deputy defense chief for the Islamic group, said during the protest in Mogadishu.
Somali government leaders may be reluctant to acknowledge Ethiopian troops have come to their aid because they don't want to appear beholden to a traditional adversary. But Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf is allied with Ethiopia and has asked for its support in the past.
Solomon Abebe, spokesman for the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, refused to address the witness accounts of Ethiopian troops Monday but lashed out at the Islamic militia's leader, calling Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys "scum" and a terrorist.
Salad Ali Jeeley, the government's deputy information minister, said Monday's rally was "aimed at igniting the conflict in Somalia."
Earlier Monday, a Somali warlord and 150 of his militiamen offered their support to the government. Mohamed Qanyare Afrah arrived in Baidoa at 4:30 a.m., said Mohamed Dooli, one of Qanyare's militia commanders.
Qanyare was among a group of secular warlords and their allies who fought the Islamic militia for control of Mogadishu between February and June.
The secular warlords were backed by the United States in an attempt to root out terrorists, but they were defeated after fierce battles that killed 400 civilians, according to a report Sunday from a Somali human rights group.
Farah Yaire, a resident of Wajid, where 200 Ethiopian soldiers moved in Saturday, said that an Ethiopian military helicopter has been landing from neighboring Ethiopia every day and taking off.
Yaire, who lives near the airport, did not know what the helicopter was carrying because the airport is closed to civilians.
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Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ETHIOMEDIA.COM - ETHIOPIA'S PREMIER NEWS AND VIEWS WEBSITE
© COPYRIGHT 20001-2006ETHIOMEDIA.COM. EMAIL: webmaster@ethiomedia.com
July 25, 2006
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| Sheik Ahmed |
"Until Ethiopian troops leave Somali soil, we will never negotiate with the government," said Islamic militia leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys.
Both Somali government leaders and the Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry have denied Ethiopian soldiers were in Somalia. However, many witnesses have confirmed their presence, in uniform.
Tuesday's statement by Aweys was the latest downward turn in an increasingly difficult international effort to negotiate peace between the powerful Islamic militants and the weak government, which has international support but no military.
It came as a U.N. envoy was in Somalia on Tuesday trying to arrange peace talks in Sudan aimed at avoiding more fighting in Somalia and a potentially bigger conflagration.
While Aweys, who has been accused by Somali secular leaders and the West of links to al-Qaida, ruled out any talks, a more moderate member of his Supreme Islamic Courts Council left open the possibility.
After meeting in Mogadishu with Francois Lonseny Fall, the U.N. special representative to Somalia, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed said the group's "peace committee" still had to consider the United Nations' call for negotiations, which would be held next week in Khartoum.
In an apparent acknowledgement that Ethiopian troops were complicating peace efforts, Fall told reporters: "The U.N. is always calling on maximum restraint from neighboring countries and for them not to interfere at this particular moment in Somalia."
The troops from neighboring Ethiopia crossed into Somalia five days ago to protect Somalia's government at Baidoa, 150 miles northwest of Mogadishu, from advancing Islamic militants. The arrival of the Ethiopians heightened tensions among Somalis because Ethiopia, a largely Christian country, is the longtime enemy of Somalia, which is mostly Muslim.
A round of peace talks that had been scheduled Saturday fell apart when the government refused to attend and the Islamic group walked out. The government and the fundamentalist Islamic militias reached a "nonaggression pact" in June, but the Islamic group has made clear that it sees itself as the country's main authority.
The Islamic militia's seizure of power has prompted grave concerns in the United States, which accuses the group of harboring al-Qaida leaders responsible for deadly 1998 bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
Fall also met with the government in Baidoa — the only town controlled by the government — where a top official said it was ready for the talks.
"We will go to Khartoum without any preconditions," Abdirizak Adam, President Abdullahi Yusuf's chief of staff, said after the meeting in the presidential compound, which was surrounded by hundreds of soldiers in mismatched uniforms. The meeting room had plush furniture, wall-to-wall carpet and heavy curtain blocking out almost all outside light.
A government spokesman said talks still could go on with moderate members of the Islamic militia, even if Aweys was rejecting them.
"Aweys is a terrorist, so it not surprising that he is refusing talks," Salad Ali Jeeley said. "We hope the moderate Islamists will attend the meeting."
Somalia has been without an effective central government since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, carving much of the country into armed camps ruled by violence and clan law.
The government was established almost two years ago with the support of the U.N. to serve as a transitional body to help Somalia emerge from anarchy. But the leadership, which includes some warlords linked to the violence of the past, has failed to establish any power.
-------- Associated Press writers Salad Duhul and Mohamed Sheikh Nor in Mogadishu, Mohamed Olad Hassan in Baidoa and Les Neuhaus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, contributed to this report.
No peace talks before Ethiopian troop withdrawal: Aweys
MOGADISHU, July 26 (AFP) - The supreme leader of Somalia's Islamic courts union has rejected peace talks with the government unless Ethiopia withdraws its troops from the lawless country.
|
|
| Islamic Courts Militia burn an Ethiopian flag in Mogadishu, Monday, July 24, 2004. (AP Photo/Mohamed Sheikh Nor) |
Last week, Ethiopian troops moved into Somalia to protect the transitional government based in the south-central town of Baidoa, fearing an Islamic advance to seize the provincial outpost.
Despite numerous eyewitness accounts of uniformed Ethiopian soldiers in Baidoa, the Somali government and Addis Ababa have vehemently denied their presence in the town -- or anywhere else in Somalia.
"If this government based in Baidoa is for Somalis, there is no reason to say that Ethiopia is protecting it from the people of Somalia," said Aweys, speaking by telephone from central Somali region of Galgudud.
In addition, he rejected Addis Ababa's claims that there were foreign fighters in Somalia backing the Islamists who control swathes of southern Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu.
Earlier, the government, under pressure from the United Nations, confirmed that it would send a delegation to Khartoum to negotiate with the Islamists, dropping its opposition to the talks aimed at preventing the country from sinking into further turmoil.
But visiting UN Special Representative for Somalia Francois Fall lauded the Islamists for partially restoring order in the capital, while urging them to pursue dialogue.
"I see what has been done in Mogadishu, and I want all of Somalia to be like that," he told Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a senior SICS leader, at a joint news conference in Mogadishu, where he arrived after holding talks with President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed in Baidoa.
"I can talk to you as an African. I am appealing to you ... to continue the dialogue," Fall said.
The Islamists, accused of having links with extremists, complained that international community had ignored them even though they were only interested in peace.
"The Somali people are peace-loving people, and we are here to help them achieve their goals. We are not here to get power and make money, but we are here to enforce law and order," Ahmed said.
"We dislodged people who were resisting peace in the past 15 years, but the UN secretary general (Kofi Annan) said he does not know who dislodged those people from Mogadishu. That is undermining our efforts, but we continue to pursue peace in Somalia," he added.
Ahmed said that a peace agreement "cannot be reached as long as foreign troops are in the country."
Somalia, a nation of about 10 million people, plunged into anarchy in 1991 when the government of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled.
Somalis vow to fight Ethiopia
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Thousands of enraged Somali demonstrators vowed to fight troops from neighboring Ethiopia, which has sent soldiers across the border to protect Somalia's weak government from Islamic militants.
The protesters, who packed a stadium in the capital, Mogadishu, burned an Ethiopian flag and carried signs that said, "We Must Fight Them!" Ethiopia, a largely Christian country, is the longtime enemy of Somalia, which is mostly Muslim.
The rally was organized by the Supreme Islamic Courts Council militia, which seized control of the capital and much of southern Somalia after months of bloody battles. The militia, whose top leader has been linked to al Qaeda, has installed strict religious rule, sparking fears it will become a Taliban-style regime.
"I came here to show that the presence of Ethiopian troops in Somalia is illegal," said Amina Hagi, a mother of four in Mogadishu, where anti-Ethiopian sentiment runs high.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, carving much of the country into armed camps ruled by violence and clan law.
A new government, which includes some warlords linked to the violence of the past, was established two years ago with the support of the United Nations. But the body wields no real power, has no military and only operates in Baidoa, 150 miles (240 kilometers) from Mogadishu.
The Islamic militia stepped in and seized control of most of southern Somalia -- prompting grave concerns in the United States, which accuses the group of harboring al Qaeda leaders responsible for deadly 1998 bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Ethiopian and Somali government officials deny Ethiopian troops are in the country, but Somali witnesses in several towns reported seeing them cross from Ethiopia four days ago and go first to Baidoa, the only town held by the government, and then to nearby Wajid.
"The Ethiopians have denied the occupation in our land, but we shall show the world corpses or POWs from their ranks," Sheik Muqtar Robow, deputy defense chief for the Islamic group, said during the protest in Mogadishu.
Somali government leaders may be reluctant to acknowledge Ethiopian troops have come to their aid because they don't want to appear beholden to a traditional adversary. But Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf is allied with Ethiopia and has asked for its support in the past.
Solomon Abebe, spokesman for the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, refused to address the witness accounts of Ethiopian troops Monday but lashed out at the Islamic militia's leader, calling Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys "scum" and a terrorist.
Salad Ali Jeeley, the government's deputy information minister, said Monday's rally was "aimed at igniting the conflict in Somalia."
Earlier Monday, a Somali warlord and 150 of his militiamen offered their support to the government. Mohamed Qanyare Afrah arrived in Baidoa at 4:30 a.m., said Mohamed Dooli, one of Qanyare's militia commanders.
Qanyare was among a group of secular warlords and their allies who fought the Islamic militia for control of Mogadishu between February and June.
The secular warlords were backed by the United States in an attempt to root out terrorists, but they were defeated after fierce battles that killed 400 civilians, according to a report Sunday from a Somali human rights group.
Farah Yaire, a resident of Wajid, where 200 Ethiopian soldiers moved in Saturday, said that an Ethiopian military helicopter has been landing from neighboring Ethiopia every day and taking off.
Yaire, who lives near the airport, did not know what the helicopter was carrying because the airport is closed to civilians.
--------
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ETHIOMEDIA.COM - ETHIOPIA'S PREMIER NEWS AND VIEWS WEBSITE
© COPYRIGHT 20001-2006ETHIOMEDIA.COM. EMAIL: webmaster@ethiomedia.com
