Nairobi, June 14 (AFP) – East African ministers are trying to find ways of ending a devastating conflict in Somalia.
The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad), a regional bloc key to the formation of Somalia’s transitional government, also called for support for the powerless transitional government, whose authority has been scuppered by unruly warlords and hardline Islamic courts.
A Kenyan Foreign Ministry official said Nairobi would press other Igad members – Uganda, Sudan, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea and nominally Somalia – to slap travel sanctions on the warlords, who were routed from the capital by the Islamic courts. “The travel sanctions will affect them because they have widespread interests in the region,” said the official.
Kenyan Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju said: “We call upon our development partners and the rest of the international community to fully support our efforts in the stabilisation of Somalia.”
He added that sanctions were the only way to restrain the battered warlords, who are reported to be regrouping.
“We, as Kenya, have decided that we are not going to allow anybody to operate from this country and to be involved at the same time in the conflict in Somalia,” Tuju said. “We will not allow them to use our banks and airports and we will not allow them to enjoy the facilities in our five-star hotels when they create hell in their country.”
Source: AFP, June 14, 2006
