Sunday, July 27, 2008
Ahmed, who spoke on Saturday at the end of a week-long gathering of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) -- an opposition group, also urged the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers.
"The withdrawal of Ethiopian troops would speed up peace for the people of Somalia," he told AFP.
"If the international community deploys UN peacekeepers, there is a great hope that peace would prevail in Somalia," Ahmed said.
Ethiopia sent forces into Somalia in late 2006 to help the Somali government dislodge an Islamist movement that had taken control of much of the country's central and southern regions.
Since then Islamist fighters have waged a deadly insurgency against the Ethiopian and government forces, mainly in the capital Mogadishu, killing thousands and displacing hundreds of thousand others.
Last month, the ARS signed a ceasefire with the government in Djibouti under UN-sponsored talks and ratified the truce last week.
The agreemment has divided the group and on Tuesday hardline Islamist cleric Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys -- accused of ties with Al-Qaeda -- claimed leadership of the ARS and rejected the June 9 truce.
Aweys and Ahmed fell out after Ahmed decided to participate in the UN-mediated peace talks seeking an end to the Somali fighting that has raged since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The ARS was formed in September 2007 in Asmara and delegates chose Ahmed as its new leader.
Source: AFP, July 27, 2008