Peace talks between Somalia’s interim government and the Islamist militia in control of the capital and the southern regions of the country are due to begin in Sudan this weekend after an about-face by President Abdullahi Yusuf.
Yusuf, who had refused to allow anyone in his administration to talk to the Union of Islamic Courts, recently sent a delegation to the talks being held under the auspices of the Arab League.
He is buoyed by the very strong support received from African leaders at their summit in Banjul at the beginning of the month. They indicated that Yusuf had been given an extremely difficult task and his inability to hold the interim government together notwithstanding, he should be given the necessary backing. This could include deploying peace-keepers.
Yusuf has also come under pressure from within his own, deeply divided ranks and from the International Contact Group, which comprises the United States, Britain, Norway, Italy, Tanzania and the European Union.
Meeting in Belgium this week, that group expressed a preference for broad-based talks between the Somali groups over the deployment of foreign peacekeepers in the country that has been in a state of anarchy these past 16 years.
But Bishop Giorgio Bertin, the Apostolic administrator of Mogadishu, has warned that the international community should not hurry to intervene in Somalia after the growing control of the country by the Union of Islamic Courts.
The Catholic Information Service for Africa quotes Bertin as saying the best thing to do was to wait and see how the situation develops in the coming days.
The All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) has welcomed the talks, saying it appreciated the fact that the Islamists have brought some order in the parts of Somalia under their control. ”The unification of Mogadishu under control of one group could be the turning point that provides an opportunity for peace. It will be easier for the transitional government to engage in negotiations with one group than it was to try and deal with the various warlords,” the AACC said.