15 July 2006, MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) – Somali lawmakers will begin reconciliation talks with the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) that controls large parts of southern Somalia, defying the weak transitional government that has ruled out talks with radical members of the group, a lawmaker said Saturday.
The decision deals a blow to the government whose authority has been undermined by the rapid rise of the Islamic group that wrested control of the capital and large parts of southern Somalia from a U.S.-backed alliance of warlords last month.
Parliamentary Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden announced the decision in parliament on Saturday, a day after President Abdullahi Yusuf told lawmakers that his administration will not negotiate with the Islamic group.
Lawmakers criticized the Cabinet decision in parliament Saturday.
The speaker ruled that the government was out of touch with reality and the legislature has to intervene, lawmaker Ahmed Omar Gaagaale said.
Government spokesman Abdirahman Mohamed Dinari, however, chided the lawmakers, accusing them of violating the constitution.
“The government will not change its policy” of not negotiating with radical members of the Supreme Islamic Courts Council, Dinari told The Associated Press.
The talks were set for Saturday in Khartoum, Sudan, under the auspices of the Arab League. Government minister Ismail Mohamud Hurreh said Yusuf and the prime minister have asked Sudanese officials to delay the talks with the Islamic group that has set up parallel administration in areas it has captured.
The interim government was established with the help of the United Nations but is powerless outside the government’s base in Baidoa.
The Security Council’s announcement came after a week of turmoil in the city. At least 70 people were killed in two days of clashes that ended Tuesday, when fighters loyal to a warlord who had refused to disarm surrendered to the Islamic militia.
At least 100 fighters loyal to once powerful warlord Musse Sudi Yalahow surrended their weapons Saturday, including nine prized trucks mounted with heavy military hardware – further cementing the radical Muslims’ position as the undisputed power in the Somali capital.
Source: AP, July 16, 2006
