By Sahal Abdulle
Sunday, November 05, 2006
MOGADISHU, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Islamist leaders welcomed the parliament speaker of Somalia's interim government to their Mogadishu stronghold amid tight security on Sunday for meetings aimed at rescuing talks to avert war.
Both sides' fighters are confronting each other just 30 km (19 miles) from the Western-backed government's sole outpost in Baidoa town, and fears of all-out conflict rose last week after Arab League-sponsored talks collapsed in Sudan.
In an attempt to revive them, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan became the most senior government official to visit the capital since the Islamists seized it from U.S.-backed warlords in June.
"We are happy to welcome the speaker to Mogadishu, even though the president and the prime minister think it is not safe for the government," Islamist foreign affairs chief Ibrahim Hassan Addou told Reuters.
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Several battlewagons -- pick-up trucks fitted with heavy weapons -- prowled the airport premises behind him, and Islamist troops searched cars and pedestrians on the roads outside.
Adan, who flew in with 19 Somali legislators, made no comment to waiting reporters before he was whisked away at the centre of a heavily armed motorcade.
Residents jammed the streets to catch a glimpse of him.
Somali lawmaker Abdala Haji Ali was optimistic. "We can sit and come up with a solution to the Somali problem," Ali told Reuters. "God willing, this will make a big difference."
Analysts fear war between the government of President Abdullahi Yusuf and Islamists who control most of the south could spread, igniting long-held grudges in the turbulent Horn of Africa region.
Those worries mounted on Wednesday when talks were postponed with mediators urging both sides to exercise restraint.
The Islamists say the government is supported by thousands of troops who invaded from neighbouring Ethiopia, while Ethiopia's arch-foe Eritrea is accused of arming the Islamists.
Both countries deny meddling in Somali affairs.
(Additional reporting by Guled Mohamed)
Source: Reuters, Nov 5, 2006