SUDAN: Somalia's interim government and rival Islamists resume direct peace talks in Sudan

Record ID: 349328

  • Title: SUDAN: Somalia's interim government and rival Islamists resume direct peace talks in Sudan
  • Date: 3rd September 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) SAMIR HOSNI, ARAB LEAGUE REPRESENTATIVE, SAYING: "We, together with the Somali people, appeal to you Somali brothers, with hope, not to waste this historic opportunity presented before you."
  • Embargoed: 18th September 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sudan
  • Country: Sudan
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVAC3RKQKI4TB8FPLDP75EPUIX84
  • Story Text: Somalia's interim government and rival Islamists resumed direct peace talks on Saturday (September 2) in Sudan, pushing for reconciliation and power-sharing to avert war in the lawless country.
    The delegates expect the talks will continue for several days and are a sequel to a first round of negotiations that the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Union of Islamic Courts held in the Sudanese capital on June 22.
    During that meeting, the two sides agreed to stop military campaigns and formally recognise one another.
    The talks, co-sponsored by the Arab League and Sudan, stalled amid allegations by the Somali government that the Islamists had broken the pact against military expansion while Islamists claimed there was foreign interference in Somalia.
    Ali Kerti, Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, in his opening address to participants expressed hope that the current round of talks between the two sides would produce positive results.
    "The confidence that the first round of talks created and the meetings and contacts that the government of Sudan and the secretariat general of the Arab League later carried out with the Somali sides and relevant parties, gives us hope and confidence that this round will achieve the success that all Somalis hope for," Kerti said.
    Samir Hosni, a representative of the Arab League, called on both sides to seize the opportunity and work to bring about lasting peace in the country.
    "We, together with the Somali people, appeal to you Somali brothers with hope not to waste this historic opportunity presented before you," Hosni urged delegates.
    The Arab League hopes to convince both sides to share power, after the Islamists took over the capital Mogadishu and a swathe of southern Somalia.
    Their rise has challenged the authority of the fragile Western-backed administration, which is based in the provincial town of Baidoa and is Somalia's 14th attempt since 1991 at forming a government.
    Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, Speaker of the Somali Parliament and Head of the Government delegation at the talks, said the administration was committed to the achievement of peace in Somalia.
    "Our aim, main aim, is to devout all our energies to contribute for the achievement of lasting peace in Somalia and for the reconstruction of our country," he said through an interpreter.
    "If this is our aim, similarly I hope that the same point of view will be held by our brothers representing the Islamic sharia courts here," Adan added.
    The Islamists said that they too wanted the bloodshed to end.
    "We came here to negotiate and carry out dialogue with our brothers from the TFG (Transitional Federal Government). We are prepared today to negotiate in good faith," Ibrahim Hussein Adow, Leader of the Union of Islamic Courts delegation, said.
    Somalia was plunged into anarchy after the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre by warlords who then proceeded to fight over patches of the country.
    The international community meeting under the International Contact Group on Somalia this week urged consensus between the government and the Islamists.
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