Somali opposition seeks 'new political platform'

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

 

ASMARA (AFP) - Opposition Somali leaders will create a "new political platform" to liberate their war-torn Horn of Africa nation from Ethiopia, they said late Monday.

 

Speaking to reporters ahead of a delayed Somali opposition conference in the Eritrean capital - now due to open Thursday - senior Islamic Courts Union (ICU) leader Omar Imam Abubakar appealed to "Somali patriots" to work together.

 

"The conference will discuss how to create national unity and reconciliation among the Somali people, in order to stop the violence caused by the foreign occupation," said Abubakar, a top Islamist official.

 

"The leadership will serve the national interests of Somalia, and give the Somali people a leadership to face the problems that the foreign occupation and their Somali allies are creating," he added.

 

Somalia's Islamist-led opposition to the Mogadishu-based transitional government, backed by Ethiopia and the international community, has regrouped in Asmara.

 

Opposition leaders have planned their own conference in response to a gathering of clan elders, described by the government as reconciliation talks, and that wrapped up last week after six weeks of consultations.

 

British-based Somali diaspora representative Abdirahman Warsame said the Asmara conference - named the Somali Congress for Liberation and Reconstitution - aimed to create a more inclusive opposition.

 

He said the conference aimed to establish a political platform involving the diaspora community, civil society groups, intellectuals, and eminent Somali politicians, as well as the ICU.

 

"The policies and strategies of the new political alliance will be decided by the new leadership, not by the Islamic Courts," he said.

 

Somali government forces, backed by Ethiopian troops, earlier this year defeated the Islamic Courts, who briefly controlled large parts of the country.

 

Since wresting back control of Mogadishu in April, insurgents have switched to guerrilla tactics, carrying out daily hit-and-run shootings, as well as roadside bomb and grenade attacks against the government and its allies.

 

Source: AFP, Sept 04, 2007