Somali lawmaker offers Islamic movement role in govt

Nov 7, 2006 (MOGADISHU) — Somalia’s most powerful lawmaker offered the country’s Islamic movement a role in government, but said it must pull back its militia to avert a looming war.

Speaking Tuesday after holding peace talks with top Islamic leaders, Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden said the weak but internationally recognized government and the Islamic group could combine to try to bring peace to Somalia, a country shattered by 15 years of civil war. Aden, though, met with Islamic leaders without the authorization of the transitional government.

Arab and African mediators had hoped to work out some kind of accommodation between the government and its Islamic rivals in failed peace talks in Khartoum, Sudan. During those talks, which collapsed last week, officials close to both sides said the Islamic forces would be offered the post of prime minister.

Both sides have been in a tense standoff amid fears of an all-out conflict. Aden called for Islamic militia to pull back from outside Baidoa, 250 kilometers northwest of the capital, Mogadishu. Baidoa is the only town the government controls.

“We have to solve our problem ourselves and combine the transitional government and the Islamic courts,” Aden told journalists after four hours of talks with the leader of the Islamic movement, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, and a senior Islamic official, Sheik Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

Aweys said during the meeting that peace talks held outside of Somalia would never bring stability to the country. “No one will gain power in Somalia through Ethiopia, but through the support of people,” added Ahmed, referring to Ethiopia’s backing of the government.

It was unclear how they would combine, however they agreed to continue talks and involve Somali intellectuals and interest groups to see how a joint administration could be formed. Islamic leaders did not say whether they would pull back their militia from the outskirts of Baidoa.

(AP)