Monday, July 31, 2006
Xinhua
The Kenyan government has called a crisis meeting of regional states to be held next week to address the unfolding political development in Somalia which has caused tension in the lawless nation, an official of Kenya’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.
A meeting of the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) called by Kenya’s Foreign Ministry would ” address the unfolding crisis in Somalia” in Nairobi on Tuesday, the official who sought anonymity said by telephone.
A UN official also said the meeting would mull over recent Security Council statements on Somalia, as well as an IGAD and African Union report on an assessment and reconnaissance mission to the country earlier this month.
The crisis meeting came as tension rose in the southern Somali town of Baidoa after an unidentified gunman killed a federal government minister as he left a mosque on Friday.
Abdalla Derow Isak, Somalia’s minister for constitutional affairs and federalism, who was shot after Friday prayers, was not among the group of ministers who resigned on Thursday.
Sources said the deceased had been trying in recent days to build support for a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi.
The assassination also came as panic has gripped the lawless nation after the arrival of a second flight at Mogadishu airport amid strict security.
According to witnesses, the aircraft that touched down in Mogadishu was an Iluyshin-76 – a massive transport plane capable of carrying more than 50 tons of cargo.
Troops loyal to the Islamic Courts in control of the capital chased away onlookers, although at least six trucks were seen loading cargo from the aircraft.
The plane was the same one that touched down in Mogadishu on Wednesday and credible sources said that flight originated in Eritrea carrying anti-aircraft guns, uniforms, AK47s and several senior Eritrean officers.
“The situation is very confusing and this has caused a great deal of uncertainty,” said a lawmaker from the town, which is 240 km northwest of the capital Mogadishu, where the UN-backed transitional government is based.
Tensions in the country were being further heightened by the presence in Somalia of Ethiopian troops who were backing the interim government. Both Eritrea and the Mogadishu authorities have denied the claim.
At least 19 members of the transitional government — which controls only a small area — resigned on Thursday, accusing the country’s UN-backed transitional government of failing to restore peace in the lawless nation.
The resignations were prompted by some ministers’ dissatisfaction that Prime Minister Gedi had failed to make progress in talks with the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts which controls Mogadishu.
On Thursday, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Somalia Francois Fall wrote to the chairman of the Executive Council of Islamic Courts to reiterate his call for a resumption of peace talks with the Transitional Federal Government.
He also stressed UN commitment to pursuing all avenues for peace and reconciliation through dialogue in Somalia, which has lacked a functioning government since President Muhammad Siad Barre’s regime was toppled in 1991.
Analysts said the success of a power-sharing agreement in talks slated to take place in Sudan could be the only way to avert war in the Horn of Africa nation.
Both Ethiopia and Eritrea have been warned not to interfere in neighboring Somalia by the United Nations and United States.
Source: Xinhua, July 30, 2006
