Somali leaders meeting in Saudi Arabia said they wanted to replace foreign forces backing the interim government against rebels with Arab and African troops under the aegis of the United Nations, Saudi media reported.
President Abdullahi Yusuf, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi and Parliament speaker Adam Mohamed Nur signed an agreement in the presence of Saudi King Abdullah in Jeddah late on Sunday, after a weeks-long reconciliation conference in Mogadishu.
”No to war, yes to peace. No to bloodshed and yes to reconciliation,” Yusuf told the meeting, according to Saudi newspapers on Monday.
The pact came days after a rival meeting in Eritrea by an opposition alliance that included leaders of the Islamic courts movement forced from power in Somalia with Ethiopian and United States backing. Most rebels boycotted the government conference.
The government has been struggling to quell the Islamist insurgency following a December military rout, which has turned parts of Mogadishu into a war zone and sparked a refugee crisis.
Earlier this year, the African Union agreed to dispatch 8 000 peacekeepers to Somalia to replace pro-government Ethiopian troops whose presence has inflamed the insurgency. So far, however, fewer than half the AU troops have arrived.
”We call for joint Arab and African forces under the aegis of the United Nations to take on the responsibility for ensuring peace and security in Somalia,” Yusuf said, vowing to prevent Islamist militants setting up base in Somalia.
”God willing, we will defeat all difficulties and make Somalia a beautiful and strong country against terrorism and ‘errant groups’,” he said, using terminology Saudi authorities use to demonise al-Qaeda militants before public opinion.
”If these ‘kharijites’ seized control of our nascent government, it would be a disaster for the Islamic nation, Arab world, Africa and the international community,” he said, using a reference to a strict sect in early Islam.
‘Political crises’
Washington fears the Islamist rebel movement could give al-Qaeda a foothold in the Horn of Africa nation which was thrown into chaos by the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Yusuf called on Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, to take part in his government’s effort to spread his reconciliation effort over other parts of the country.
Saudi Arabia, flush with cash on booming world oil prices, has sponsored peace efforts in a number of regional hotspots, including Lebanon, Sudan and the Palestinian territories.
In Mogadishu, Somali scholar Abdulqadir Mohamed Ali said he thought it was possible the United States had urged Saudi Arabia to try to forge some rare unity among Somalia’s players.
But Ali Salad Ahmed, 50-year-old teacher in the Somali capital, said the effort was unlikely to make much difference.
”I believe Saudi can only help the government financially, but it will be difficult for the kingdom to play roles in the political crises,” Ahmed told Reuters in Mogadishu.
”The Saudis are known to help their Muslim brothers, but they have never succeeded in solving their differences.”
Saudi Arabia welcomed ”assurances” it said Yusuf gave that foreign forces would be replaced, an official statement said.
It was not clear if this was a reference to Ethiopian troops. There are fears the Somalia conflict could trigger a wider war, with arch foes Eritrea and Ethiopia lined up on opposite sides, with Eritrea backing the opposition. – Reuters