‎Somali Delegations Have Direct Talks In Sudan

By OPHEERA McDOOM, REUTERS, KHARTOUM, Sudan

The interim government of Somalia and the Islamic Courts movement which took control of the capital Mogadishu this month began their first direct high-level talks in Sudan on June 22.

Delegations from the two sides met under Arab League auspices in the Sudanese capital Khartoum after mediators held separate meetings with them in the morning in an attempt to avert a confrontation which could extend years of conflict.

Sudan invited the two delegations to Khartoum and called an Arab League meeting to prevent a new war in Somalia, which has not had a strong central government for the past 15 years.

The talks will focus on a ceasefire and power sharing, an African diplomat who follows Somalia closely said.

Tensions have risen between the government and the Islamists since the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) advanced out of Mogadishu and seized a strategic swathe of southern Somalia.

The government has infuriated the Islamists by calling for international peacekeepers and saying Muslim fundamentalists from around the world helped them secure Mogadishu.

The two delegations gathered in a conference center on the banks of the Blue Nile, along with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol.

ICU chairman Sheikh Sharif Ahmed did not come in person but sent a 10-man delegation led by Mohamed Ali Ibrahim, Sudanese officials said. The president of the interim government, Abdillahi Yusuf, was in Khartoum on Thursday but it was not clear if he was attending the direct talks.

The government had kept its distance from the Islamists and on June 21 a spokesman said direct talks would have to take place at a later date and inside Somalia.

PROGRESS ON AGENDA

Amr Moussa told Reuters before the session began that the two sides had made progress towards a common agenda which includes arms, the future of warlords, cooperation and reconstruction. Peacekeeping could also be on the agenda, he said.

"This is the beginning of a long process. Today and from now on we are just starting," he added.

The victory of the Islamist movement was a setback for the United States, which fed money to warlords who courted U.S. backing by saying they were fighting terrorism.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer told reporters in Nairobi late on June 21 that Washington wanted all Somalis to deny safe haven to what she called foreign terrorists operating in Somalia.

"It is very clear that there are foreign terrorists in Somalia ... We need to work with all elements. They need to come together within a dialogue so that they can create a policy in which terrorists cannot have a safe haven," she said.

Moussa said the United States now understood that financing warlords was a bad idea. "I believe that all of us including the United States are very much aware that any money given to warlords takes Somalia back to square one," he said.

He said he did not know how long the talks would last or what the next step would be. But Moussa said he did not plan to stay in the Sudanese capital throughout June 23.

The African diplomat said he was skeptical about the talks. "The Islamic Courts have not sent their big guns. Those who were sent cannot make a final decision. I don’t think the talks will have any impact on the ground," he said.