Somali leaders reach consensus on dealing with Islamists
Aug 6, 2006 (MOGADISHU) — Somalia’s three top leaders have resolved their differences over how the transitional government should respond to the rise of Islamic militants, who now control most of the country’s south, officials said Sunday.
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin mediated between the leaders of Somalia’s weak, U.N.-backed transitional government after a rift led 40 Cabinet and junior ministers resign since July 27.
No details of what the leaders agreed were to be announced before an official presentation to parliament Monday, said Aadan Husein Abdi Risaaq, the director of the presidency.
However, the main points of the agreement are that Gedi will appoint within seven days a new Cabinet of 31 members, 31 deputy ministers and 12 state ministers and parliament won’t debate a no-confidence vote for six months, an official said.
Early Sunday, Seyoum left Baidoa, 240 kilometers northwest of the capital, Mogadishu. He arrived Saturday.
He is the first Ethiopian official to visit Somalia in many years. Ethiopia and Somalia view each other as enemies, have fought a war in 1977 to 1978, but Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf is a longtime ally of Ethiopia.
Yusuf and his Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi had disagreed on how to deal with the rise of Islamic courts. Yusuf has the support of parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden.
“The leaders hugged, kissed and shook hands with the Ethiopian diplomats for their role in solving the problems among the country’s top leaders,” said Siyaad Ali, an aide of Gedi.
Mohamed Sheikh of Aden’s office confirmed the three leaders had reached an agreement.
On July 30, Gedi survived a no-confidence motion because only 126 lawmakers supported it – 13 short of the number required for the motion to pass. Only 88 lawmakers voted to keep Gedi.
Last week, Yusuf said he wanted a government delegation to go to Khartoum, Sudan on Aug. 1 for Arab League-sponsored talks with the Islamists. But Gedi said that the talks have been postponed to Aug. 17.
The ministers leaving Gedi’s government have all cited his lukewarm support for Arab League-sponsored talks as their reason for resigning.
Somalia’s transitional government was formed two years ago with the support of the U.N. to help the Horn of Africa country emerge from 16 years of anarchy and violence. The government has a five-year term.
Yusuf and Gedi, however, have been unable to assert their authority beyond Baidoa.
Somalia hasn’t had an effective central government since warlords toppled longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned against each other, plunging the country into anarchy.
As Islamic militants seized the capital and much of southern Somalia in recent months, the transitional government could only watch helplessly. The Islamists have been imposing strict religious courts, raising fears of an emerging Taliban-style regime.
The U.S. accuses the group of harboring al-Qaida leaders responsible for deadly bombings at the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
(AP/ST)