Arab League Insists on Aug. 15 Somalia Talks

Mogadishu 11, August. 06 ( Sh.M.Network) The Arab League is pressing the Somali interim government and the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) to return to talks it is sponsoring in Khartoum on Aug. 15 despite an ICU request for a delay, a League official said on Aug. 10.

The official, who asked not to be named, said that the ICU, which controls the Somali capital Mogadishu and a large swathe of south Somalia, had objected to the timing of the talks in a meeting with the Arab League on Thursday.

The Somali interim government and the ICU last met on June 22, where they agreed to stop military campaigns, recognize each other and meet again.

The ICU delegation, headed by Mohamed Ali Ibrahim, requested that the talks with the government be postponed until September, but the Arab League has insisted on holding them on Aug. 15.
Samir Hosni, the Arab League representative on Somali affairs, said the League had received preliminary ICU approval for talks to go ahead on Aug. 15, but the decision was still subject to the ratification of the ICU leadership in Somalia.

Hosni said the League expected a final answer within the next few days.

Interim Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi recently faced mass desertion from his cabinet over his refusal to negotiate with the ICU, until President Abdullahi Yusuf dissolved the cabinet on Aug. 7.

President Yusuf and parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan had opposed Gedi’s move to postpone proposed talks with the Islamists, prompting regional power Ethiopia into a mediation role to settle differences within the government.

Hosni said the Somali government no longer objected to talks with the ICU.

Ethiopia is reported to have sent troops to Somalia to protect Gedi’s interim administration. Although Addis Ababa denies this, the reports are believed by many Somalis and have provoked a stand-off with the Islamists, who bitterly oppose Ethiopian intervention.