Sudanese president vows to continue Somali mediation
Jan 5, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese president said he will continue efforts to resolve the Somali issue, he further added that security and stability are the main goal of the Sudan without any interest in who is establishing stability.
President Omar al-Bashir, who is also the chairman of the Arab League, today said “’We shall continue our efforts, and strive because we are not interested in who rules Somalia, what we are interested in is who establishes stability, security, and peace among the people of Somalia.”
“We said it from the first day since the first government was formed after Siad Barre, and we even told Abdelqasim Salad Hassan — former president of Transitional National Government– that we will support anyone who comes and achieves security, peace, and stability in Somalia.”
Sudan’s mediation efforts to resolve the Somali crisis were close to success before foreign hands intervened and stressed that Sudan welcomed all possible solutions to achieve Somalia’s stability, Sudanese president underscored.
At a press conference held Friday 8 December by the end of the Summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group in Khartoum, Sudanese president had expressed his opposition to any intervention of foreign troops in Somalia.
He considered plots against the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) as part of the attack against Islam and Islamic countries in the region.
Khartoum mediation between the interim government and the UIC seems overturned by the intervention of Ethiopian troops in Somalia on Dec. 24 to defeat an Islamic movement which threatened to overthrow the internationally recognized government, which at the time only controlled one town.
In a meeting held Friday in Nairobi by the International Contact Group on Somalia, it was agreed to deploy around 8,000 African troops in Somalia. The US pledged to provide US$40 million to Somalia in political, humanitarian and peacekeeping assistance. While the European Union said it would also help pay for a peacekeeping force, but only if Somalia’s government held talks with all segments of Somali society to stop 15 years of chaos in the Horn of Africa country.
Ethiopian foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin was yesterday in Khartoum to deliver a message from the Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on the situation in Somalia. He told the press that Ethiopian troops entered Somalia in self defence after Islamists threats.
(ST)