U.S. special envoy vows to stabilize Somalia

Nairobi, May 19 2007 - Newly appointed United States special envoy to Somalia John Yates has vowed to ensure that peace and stability return to the war-ravaged Horn of Africa nation.

Yates who was appointed special envoy to Somalia on Thursday to help the lawless country overcome violence said since the heavy fighting has subsided three weeks ago, the biggest challenge is to make progress toward holding a reconciliation conference.

Speaking at a news conference in Nairobi on Friday, Yates said he could not immediately travel to Somalia due to high insecurity which led to the killing of four Ugandan peacekeepers this week.

"I think that what one could say now is that we would like very much to see the cessation of hostilities that has been going on now for three weeks to be formalized into a more durable ceasefire, actually," he told reporters.

"And then the big challenge is to have an independent and successful reconciliation congress," said Yates, a career diplomat for 40 years who now leads the Somalia unit at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in neighboring Kenya.

Yates was appointed as special envoy on Thursday by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Yates will assist Somalia with efforts to create a stable government as it emerges from over 16 years of instability and lawlessness.

The administration is giving high priority to Somalia because of the presence of Islamic radicals in the east African country.

The U.S. envoy said he hoped that a three-week ceasefire between Ethiopian soldiers defending the government and Mogadishu's powerful clan Hawiye would hold. The permanent ceasefire, he said, will allow people to return to their homes.

"The United States is urging the Transitional Federal Government to open up all the airports and to permit all food items to flow to the internally displaced persons," he said.

Yates emphasized the significance of talks between the government and Hawiye elders before a much-delayed national reconciliation conference planned for next month.

The envoy said he was pushing for the negotiations to continue so that a fair and independent reconciliation congress can take place that will map out the way to a new constitution and elections by 2009.

"We are trying to encourage the Hawiyes in Mogadishu ... and I will urge president Abdullahi Yusuf to continue the political dialogue that they have begun, and we hope that they can reach some sort of rapprochement that will permit a fit, fair and independent reconciliation congress," he said.

Somalia has been in anarchy since the 1991 fall of military strongman Mohamed Siad Barre. The current Western-backed transitional government is the 15th attempt at establishing central authority.

Somali and Ethiopian troops have since been battling insurgents and hundreds of civilians have been killed in Mogadishu's worst violence in 16 years.

There have also recently been spates of bombings by rebels who have vowed an Iraq-style insurgency.

But Yates said he hopes that instability in the Horn of Africa nation will end by 2009 when it is expected to hold its elections which will mark the end of the Transitional Federal Government.

The career U.S. diplomat said the individual moderate members of the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) should be included in the reconciliation conference.

"They can still come and be represented and their position can be represented. As long as the clans have the opportunity to pick their delegates freely without pressure from the government, we believe this is a satisfactory solution," he said.

Yates was involved in the making of the Transitional Federal Charter and the Transitional Federal institutions which served as the structure for the re-establishment of governance in Somalia.

Washington views Somalia as strategically important in its fight against al-Qaeda and is concerned the Horn of Africa country is a safe haven for the militant group and could be used as a springboard for attacks.

Last January, U.S. warplanes conducted several strikes in Somalia targeting al-Qaeda leadership.

It was Washington's first overt military intervention in Somalia since a disastrous peacekeeping mission that ended in 1994.

Source: Xinhua