Somalia government delays talks with Islamic

[General Duke]

Somalia government delays talks with Islamic militia :: latest

 

Somalia’s nearly powerless interim government today said it wanted to postpone this weekend’s peace talks with an increasingly radical Islamic militia that has seized control of nearly all of southern Somalia.

 

The talks were a move toward international acceptance for the militia, which the US has accused of harbouring al-Qaida and wanting to impose a Taliban-style theocracy throughout Somalia.

 

“The Islamic group has extreme views which cannot go with the world’s civilised and democratic system,†said Isma’il Mohamud Hurre, minister for regional cooperation from the government base in Baidoa, 155 miles from Mogadishu.

 

 

A top official in the Islamic militia said the group wanted the talks to go on as scheduled.

 

“We have never tried to divide the government members, so I wonder why they are constantly interfering with us,†said Sheikh Mohamud Sheikh Ibrahim Suley.

 

The talks were set for tomorrow in Khartoum, Sudan, under the auspices of the Arab League. Hurre said Somalia’s president and prime minister had asked Sudanese officials for a delay.

[General Duke]

Somalia government delays talks

Fri Jul 14, 2006 2:50am ET

 

 

By Guled Mohamed

 

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's interim government said on Friday it had postponed peace talks scheduled to take place in Sudan over the weekend because the Islamist movement running Mogadishu violated a ceasefire and could not be trusted.

 

"It was a cabinet decision that we postpone the talks because of the violations of the Khartoum agreement," Hussein Aideed, Somalia's deputy prime minister, told Reuters by telephone from the government's headquarters in Baidoa.

 

He was referring to the two sides' agreement during a first round of talks in Sudan on June 22 to stop military campaigns. The government says the Islamists' subsequent pushes against remaining warlords around Mogadishu -- and their announcement of a parallel national administration -- broke that accord.

 

 

"It is very difficult to trust the Islamic Courts because they have not changed their violent ways," Aideed added.

 

The Islamists took most of the Somali capital from U.S.-backed warlords early in June and went on to take control of a large swathe of the south of the Horn of Africa nation.

 

That has challenged the authority of the Western-backed interim government, which is based in the provincial city of Baidoa as it is not strong enough to move to Mogadishu.

 

Some analysts fear armed confrontation, and the Arab League-brokered talks on power-sharing in Khartoum, set for Saturday, were intended to avert that.

 

President Abdullahi Yusuf's government is suspicious of the Islamists' desire to impose strict sharia law to tame anarchy in the nation of 10 million, without central rule since 1991.

[Baashi]

TFG is making a big mistake. Negotiating with the new power in Mogadishu for the sake of peace and stability is the right way to go about this. And let's be frank the courts are power to reckon with more so than any previous grouping that stepped up to the southern theatre. Delay the meeting if you must but don't you boycott the peace conference!!!! (Imagine if TFG concedes all their demands including constitutional revision within TFI framework) and I mean anything short of undermining its authority then TFG may have a chance to have Mogadishu on a dish. Think about it!

 

You see TFG doesn't have to choose between the International recognition and support for its fledgling institution and reaching a workable and practical understanding with the courts. There are ways of reconciling these two seemingly irreconcilable political tracks. If the top brass in Biadowa don't wise up they will end up cornering the courts into a box and if that were to happen I can assure you the TFG will lose 1 - nill to Courts. Think about it! Unless the clan matrix come into the picture and I don't think it will (provided the courts manage willkaa indhaha cad cad), I don't see Somalis symapthizing with foreign -backed TFG boys against Jihad-declaring Islamists!

 

On the other side of spectrum Courts' interest will be well served if they find a way to deal with TFG without outside interference. I am extremely impressed by how shrewd and calculating the Sherif is. This guy knows how to put the ball back into where it belongs. Provided the Aways followers withing the court don't complicate the internal politics of the alliance he Sharif that is will keep projecting pacifists stand. This sof-spoken and moderate guy can within reason do wonders for the courts.

 

If they don't wise up, if they don't distance themselves from IndhaCadde, if they don't put all their resources in fortifying the city and instead go offensive in a preempt move they will facilitate speedy foreign troop deployement and the TFG will have what it always wanted which is military support that answers to her as well as financial handout. The thing is that the old man has an assurance from the Ethiopians that his base will be safe and sound if worst come to materialize.

 

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I'm absolutely confinced that this looming civil war can be prevented if the folks at the top have what it takes. We've been there before! There was a time when Ceydiid Sr thought he made it to the top and he almost did but events he couldn't forseen transpired to the point where he has fallen from grace, (remember him welcoming Bush Sr.) In short span of time he became a hunted man with price on his head!