By SALAD DUHUL
Associated Press Writer
Sunday, October 29, 2006
A third round of talks, scheduled to start Monday in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, was supposed to focus on power sharing between the two rivals amid fears a war could engulf the region. The Islamic militia has taken over much of Somalia, while the interim government controls only one town.
"We will not take part in the Khartoum talks unless Ethiopia withdraws its troops from Somalia," Ibrahim Hassan Adow, the group's foreign affairs chief, told The Associated Press.
Although an 18-strong Islamic delegation flew out to Sudan Sunday, Adow said they will not engage with the interim administration until Ethiopian troops leave.
"We do not accept the presence of Ethiopian troops," said Adow who is heading the Islamic delegation. "We cannot go forward in reconciliation and with the peace process with Ethiopian troops in our country."
Somalia's internationally backed government has said it will attend, but has repeatedly accused the Islamic movement of trying to undermine the talks.
"The Islamists are trying to undermine the peace efforts," Salad Ali Jelle, the government's deputy defense minister said. "They don't want peace."
He declined to comment on Ethiopian troops in the country. Ethiopian officials were not immediately available for comment.
Ethiopia has said several hundred Ethiopian military trainers are in Somalia, providing expertise to the weak interim government. The Council of Islamic Courts, which wants to bring Islamic law to Somalia, has taken the capital and much of southern Somalia since the summer.
A confidential U.N. briefing note obtained by the AP on Friday cites diplomatic sources estimating that "between 6,000-8,000 Ethiopians" are supporting the government and that "2,000 fully equipped Eritrean troops are now inside Somalia" backing the Islamic group known as the Council of Islamic Courts.
On Saturday, Eritrea strongly denied it has deployed troops into Somalia.
Adow also insisted Kenya cannot chair the talks. The Islamic Courts say Kenya is backing a proposed African peacekeeping mission to Somalia, which the group opposes.
Tension in the region has mounted with the government and the Islamic Courts girding for battle in recent weeks. The unresolved border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea could spill over into Somalia, where the Islamic courts have been growing in strength since seizing Mogadishu in June.
Ethiopia, whose population is nearly 50 percent Muslim, fears its Horn of Africa neighbor will become an Islamic fundamentalist state.
"Both sides in the Somali conflict are reported to have major outside backers — the government supported by Ethiopia, Uganda and Yemen; the Islamic courts receiving aid from Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Gulf States," the U.N. report added.
The top U.S. diplomat to Africa, Jendayi Frazer, accused Eritrea earlier this month of using Somalia to open a second front against Ethiopia. Frazer claimed Eritrea was shipping weapons to the Islamic group, which the U.S. believes is harboring al-Qaida terrorists.
Eritrea, meanwhile, claimed the U.S. was using its Ethiopia to carry out a war in Somalia. A statement posted on the Eritrean Information Ministry's Web site late Saturday said the U.N. report of Eritrea's presence in Somalia was an attempt "to cover up the U.S. governments plans and the war it is carrying out in Somalia."
Eritrea wants the international community to pressure Ethiopia into handing over territories awarded to Eritrea in an international ruling after their border war ended in 2000.
Meanwhile, about 100 pro-government fighters surrendered their weapons Saturday to the Islamic militia, Islamic officials said. The pro-government fighters have lost a series of skirmishes against Islamic militia.
Associated Press Writers Chris Tomlinson and Anthony Mitchell from Nairobi and Nasteex Dahir Farah in Kismayo, Somalia contributed to this report.
Source: AP, Oct. 29, 2006