Libya launches mediation between Ethiopia, Somali courts

Sept 9, 2006 (CAIRO) — Libya has launched a mediation between the Ethiopia and the Somali Islamic militia; according to a report by a ban-Arab daily the Ethiopian Prime Minister and the Chief of the Islamic Courts attended a meeting last week organised by the Libyan leader.

Libyan and Somali sources told Al-Sharq al-Awsat yesterday that the Libyan authorities have jumped on the mediation bandwagon between the Islamic Courts and the Somali and Ethiopian governments. They said the aim is to arrange direct talks involving Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the chairman of the Islamic Courts; Somali Interim President Abdullah Yusuf, and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

Aweys and Yusuf have arrived unexpectedly in the Libyan capital Tripoli in response to an official invitation from Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi to attend the celebrations marking the seventh anniversary of the proclamation of the African Union in the Libyan city of Sirte in 1999.

Zenawi is also taking part in these celebrations. Both Zenawi and Yusuf enjoy close ties with Gadhafi, and this could qualify him, according to the Somali sources, to bring them together in a tripartite meeting with Aweys on the fringes of AU celebrations so as to bridge differences of viewpoints on pending disputes in the Somali crisis.

This is the first visit by Aweys to an Arab country since succeeding Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad as chairman of the Islamic Courts Organization whose militias gained control three months ago in the Somali capital Mogadishu and several cities in the centre and south of Somalia.

Meanwhile Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi distanced himself from controversial statements by Abd-al-Qadir Adin Shir, his defence minister who goes by the name Barre Hirale, in which he renewed his opposition to his government’s plan to introduce African peacekeeping forces, and threatened to resist them. Shir called on elements of the former Somali Army to return immediately to service and act to prevent the deployment of these forces.

Gedi told Al-Sharq al-Awsat in a telephone contact from his temporary headquarters in the city of Bidawa in southern Somalia that the defence minister’s statements reflected his personal opinion, not the official stand of the government. He said the government, after intensive consultations for more than one-and-one-half years with the members of the Somali parliament, has officially endorsed a plan to bring over African peacekeeping forces to preserve security and stability in Somalia which has been suffering from political and military anarchy since the overthrow of President Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.

Gedi considered that there was no alternative to deploying these forces since governmental forces lack the numerical and military capability to control all Somali territory. He criticized the failure of the international community to act in a sufficient and positive manner to support his Government. Gedi further stressed that the deployment of the African peace-keeping forces in Somalia does not mean that his government was abandoning the agreement it concluded lately in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, under the patronage of the Arab League and the Sudanese government, on the formation of a joint army comprising the militias of the government and elements of the Islamic Courts.

He affirmed anew that there was no alternative to resorting to the help of peacekeeping forces from outside Somalia pending the establishment of security and the disarmament of the militias that are a threat to the political situation in the country. He pointed out that without the presence of these peacekeeping forces there would be no hope for ending the Somali crisis and closing the page of the gruelling civil war.

Military commands from the remnants of the former Somali Army have meanwhile announced their rejection of any foreign military intervention in Somalia. Around 500 commanders and officers from the former Somali Army organized a small-scale military parade with all their weaponry the day before yesterday in the heart of Mogadishu for the first time since the militias of the Islamic Courts took control of it.

Gen Nur Jalal, the spokesman for the former commanders, said that this military parade which was organized at the behest of the Somali defence minister aims at demonstrating the ability of the former army elements to carry out their duties and defend Somalia against any external intervention, particularly from Ethiopia which he considered as the number one enemy of the Somali people.

But high-level Somali government sources said that what the defence minister is doing does not reflect the government’s policy. They warned of what they described as the possible negative outcome of this attempted mutiny, recalling a similar breakaway bid led by four ministers early this year which ended in their dismissal.

Officials in the Arab League and the Islamic Courts Organization expressed their belief that the agreement concluded between the Somali interim government and the Islamic Courts in Khartoum might not be the best solution for the problems of Somalia. They warned that the agreement, rather than providing a vehicle for reconciliation among the parties to the Somali crisis, had built-in self-destruct factors.

A prominent leader in the courts told Al-Sharq al-Awsat by telephone from Mogadishu that continued Ethiopian interference in the internal affairs of the Somali people plus the growing influence of Addis Ababa in the southern city of Bidawa, the headquarters of the interim authority led by President Abdullah Yusuf, could undermine this agreement. The leader, who requested that he not be identified, believes that the Somali government should now abandon its plan for deployment of African peacekeeping forces in Somalia pending the outcome of the upcoming talks with the Islamic Courts. He pointed out that the Somali government delegation to the Khartoum negotiations has been unable to deny the presence of Ethiopian forces in Bidawa.

Meanwhile Samir Husni, the Arab League official in charge of the Somali file told Al-Sharq al-Awsat that the Khartoum Agreement represented an important step on the road to a comprehensive national reconciliation in Somalia. He said that the two sides should abide by the agreement and not undertake any action to violate or circumvent it.

Husni considered that after signing the Khartoum Agreement there is no longer any need for the deployment of African peacekeeping forces in Somalia. He affirmed that the Arab League will back efforts aimed at establishing a joint army from the militias of the Islamic Courts and forces loyal to the Somali government.

Official Somali sources denied that Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf had called on the leaders of the countries of the East-African Governmental Development organization EGAD who met last Monday in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to freeze the plan he had proposed upon assuming power about two years ago with respect to deployment of these forces to provide a chance for the success of the new agreement between the authority and the Islamic Courts. The sources affirmed that Yusuf considered that continuing to implement this plan does not conflict with the principles of the Khartoum accord, pointing out that he had found understanding for this position from the heads of the EGAD member states.

(ST)