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Mogadishu, October 31, 2009 – The Arab League is
trying to broker negotiations between Somalia's fragile U.N.-backed
government and Islamist insurgents, but it said on Saturday that rebel
hardliners did not want to talk.
Western security agencies say the drought-ravaged nation has become a
safe haven for militants, including foreign jihadists, who are using it
to plot attacks across the region and beyond.
Ibrahim al-Shuwaymi, the Arab League's ambassador in Somalia, said it
had been trying to broker discussions between the government and the
insurgents behind the scenes since the League opened an office in the
capital Mogadishu in July 2008.
"Somalia's politics are very complicated, but we shall never lose hope
of reconciling them," he told Reuters in an interview.
"I meet the government and Islamists officials in an effort to bring
peace. But the problem comes from the Hizbul Islam and al Shabaab
(rebel) groups, which do not want dialogue."
Al Shabaab, which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, has
vowed to strike Burundi and Uganda's capitals in revenge for Thursday's
rocket attacks by peacekeepers from those countries that killed 30
people in Mogadishu.
Burundi and Uganda both have about 2,600 peacekeepers in the Somali
capital for the African Union's AMISOM force.
Fighting in failed Horn of Africa state has killed 19,000 Somalis since
the start of 2007 and uprooted 1.5 million, triggering one of the
world's worst humanitarian emergencies.
Shuwaymi said the worsening insecurity made delivering aid even more
difficult for the international community.
"PEACE BEFORE SHARIA"
"Even local aid workers are killed and groups deprive internally
displaced people of food relief," he said. "There is no reliable group
through which aid can be delivered."
Despite the lack of progress, the ambassador said his organisation would
continue its mediation efforts.
"Somalia is a member of the Arab League and it is our duty to play an
important role in restoring peace ... We will always be ready to
convince the opposition groups," he said.
"Blood must not be shed. What's needed is Somali government. Later,
Somalis can discuss what kind of sharia or principles the government
will adopt. Peace comes before sharia."
In a separate interview with Reuters in Uganda, Somali Foreign Minister
Ali Jama Ahmed said more AU troops would be sent soon to boost AMISOM to
its planned strength of 8,000.
"We expect our African brothers to complete the deployment of an
additional 2,800 in the coming two months," Ahmed said.
"There are some countries that have indicated that they will be sending
peacekeepers and are now being trained by the U.N. because they said
they did not have experience in peacekeeping."
He did not elaborate. Several African nations had agreed to send troops
for AMISOM but have so far failed to do so, some saying in private they
are put off by the incessant violence.
AMISOM troops come under near-daily attack from the rebels. Last month,
al Shabaab hit the mission's main headquarters in Mogadishu with a twin
suicide car bombing that killed 17 peacekeepers, including the Burundian
deputy force commander.
Source: Reuters, Oct 24, 2009
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