Friday, April 13, 2007
The African Union (AU) on Friday called for broad-based talks to promote reconciliation in Somalia, saying it was the best chance for the transitional government to chart out its democratic future for decades.
Speaking at the opening of the regional meeting of ministers from Eastern Africa, the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Said Djinit appealed to the transitional government to make the upcoming reconciliation conference inclusive by reaching out to the country's ousted Islamic militants.
Djinit said peace would not be realized in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa nation unless the United Nations-backed transitional government pursue the path of reconciliation and warned that further instability would hold back the wider region.
"We therefore, appeal to the TFG to include all the Somali people in the national reconciliation congress which seeks to bring about peace and reconciliation in Somalia once and for all," Djinit said.
"This will subsequently pave the way for lasting peace, stability and the reconstruction of the country as a whole," he told a meeting of foreign ministers from the seven-nation regional bloc, the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
"However, our efforts to assist the Somali peace process will not succeed unless the TFG leads the process of reviving Somalia from the ashes of the painful and prolonged conflict which has displaced millions and claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Somali citizens."
The transitional government has been under intense pressure from the , the European Union and the United Nations to expand its support base by bringing all Somali parties, including moderate Islamists and powerful clans to the negotiating table.
But so far only clan leaders, warlords and religious leaders have been involved, while ousted members of the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) have been excluded.
Exiled Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, who is considered a moderate of the once powerful SCIC that had controlled Mogadishu and much of the south and central Somalia until late last year, is one of the figures western nations see as crucial for reconciliation.
Regional analysts have warned that the talks can only have a lasting effect if they are held in a spirit of forgiveness, true reconciliation and with the participation of all the parties involved including the ousted SCIC.
The AU has agreed to send a force of nearly 8,000 troops to the Horn of Africa nation, which has been the scene of fighting between warlords and their militias for much of the last 16 years.
But Djinit said the deployment has been held up as only a handful of countries have agreed to contribute troops, partly due to concerns about finance and of getting bogged down in a country, which has been an epitome of anarchy.
"The deployment of the AMISOM mission in Somalia is to ensure that the TFG is afforded an enabling environment to spearhead the efforts for reconciliation and dialogue amongst the Somalis with the view to strengthening national unity and consolidating the transitional federal institutions," he said.
The Italian government has pledged to finance efforts to stabilize Somalia, with an additional donation of 10 million euros (about 13.46 million U.S. dollars) for peacekeeping operations through the African Union.
"We are expecting that such process would be developed within a secure environment; that is why Italy decided to add a direct contribution of 10 million euros to the AU for AMISOM," said Armando Sanguini, personal representative of the Italian President for Africa.
"We trust AMISOM to reach rapidly the necessary dimensions for its full deployment, leading to the withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops from Somalia," Sanguini said.
The AU has so far deployed two battalions of just over 1,200 Ugandan peacekeepers, out of a planned 8,000, for six months. Burundi, Nigeria, Ghana and Malawi have also pledged to contribute but have been held back by logistics and finance, Djinit said.
The government pledged to secure and stabilize the city within 30 days. But thousands of residents, who have borne the brunt of daily mortar and small arms fire from insurgents, continued to flee Mogadishu.
The United Nations and the AU all want to deploy African peacekeepers to stop Somalia from returning to the clan-based violence and anarchy that has characterized the country since 1991 when warlords overthrew a military strongman and then turned on each other.
But analysts said no country was likely to send peacekeepers into Somalia while there is fighting, which has continued sporadically since the government took over Mogadishu.
Source: Xinhua, April 13, 2007