SOMALIA: UN envoy to Somalia urges fractured government to return to peaceful dialogue with Islamists

The United Nations' envoy to Somalia on Monday (November 20) urged the country's fractured government to make amends and commit to peace talks with an Islamic militia that has taken over much of southern Somalia. Francois Lonseny Fall, the UN Secretary-General's special representative to Somalia, met briefly with Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf before holding closed-door discussions with Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi. Fall, in his first visit to Somalia since August, expressed international community concerns and urged the transitional federal institutions to remain committed to dialogue. He said his focus was to persuade the government, which has been wracked by infighting, to come together and restart talks with the Union of Islamic Courts. Somalia's most powerful lawmaker, Parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden, travelled to the capital, Mogadishu, earlier this month and brokered his own preliminary peace agreement with the courts, but the move was not authorised by the government. On Monday, Gedi said he had invited Aden back to the government base of Baidoa. Several peace initiatives in the country have failed, with both the government and Islamic movement trading accusations over who is to blame for the deadlock. Fears are mounting that a war in Somalia could engulf the region. Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew a dictator and then turned on each other. A government was formed with the help of the UN two years ago, but it has failed to assert any real control outside the southern town of Baidoa, where it is based. The Islamic movement, meanwhile, has taken over the capital and much of southern Somalia since June. The United States has accused the group of sheltering suspects in the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Osama bin Laden has said Somalia is a battleground in his war on the West.

ITN Source | November 21, 2006

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