KENYA: Italy's special envoy to Somalia Mario Rafaelli believes the country could be at a turning point

Record ID: 362853

  • Title: KENYA: Italy's special envoy to Somalia Mario Rafaelli believes the country could be at a turning point
  • Date: 25th June 2006
  • Summary: (BN10) NAIROBI, KENYA (JUNE 23, 2006) (REUTERS) ITALIAN ENVOY TO SOMALIA MARIO RAFAELLI TALKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ITALIAN ENVOY TO SOMALIA MARIO RAFAELLI SAYING: "There is a real window of opportunity, because the defeat of the warlords in Mogadishu makes the situation not easier but simpler. The warlords were a factor of destabilisation." CUT AWAY OF RA
  • Embargoed: 10th July 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVACA9CCCQ6KOLI90IOBZ36TC54B
  • Story Text: The Islamist defeat of secular warlords in Mogadishu could be a turning point in Somalia after 15 years of violent anarchy, a senior Italian envoy said on Friday (June 23).
    Mario Raffaelli, Rome's special envoy for Somalia, a former Italian colony, rejected fears that the Islamist courts militia now controlling a large swathe of central Somalia could usher in a Taliban-style government.
    "There is a real window of opportunity, because the defeat of the warlords in Mogadishu makes the situation not easier but simpler. The warlords were a factor of destabilisation," Raffaelli said.
    He pointed out though that there would be a lot of problems but for the first time this is a real turning point.
    The secular warlords, kicked out of Mogadishu on June 5, are widely believed to have been backed by the United States.
    Washington has neither confirmed nor denied supporting the warlords but has said it will work with groups interested in fighting against terrorism.
    "Whoever supported these people made a mistake because the outcome of this support was exactly the increasing capacity of the radicals to be players in Mogadishu," Raffaelli said.
    Raffaelli said when they formed a self-styled anti-terrorism alliance early this year, in what was seen as a ploy to curry U.S. favour, it increased support for the Islamist courts.
    The victorious side in Mogadishu was composed of many different elements said the envoy.
    "I don't agree with people who think we have in Mogadishu now a Taliban power or we have the Islamic radicals and nothing else. I think the large majority of the movement who were able to defeat the warlords are moderates -- civil society, the business community and even inside the courts we have moderates, so we must help the dialogue, " he added.
    Raffaelli said Thursday's (June 22) agreement in Khartoum to defuse rising tensions between the Islamists and Somalia's internationally recognised interim government, in which the two sides recognised each other, was a "first but important step."
    The warlords, who ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and had ruled Mogadishu in private fiefdoms ever since, were widely unpopular among the population they victimised.
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