Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Minister Raphael Tuju and IGAD Executive Director Attalla Hamad Bashir urged Somali warring parties to return to the path of dialogue and reconciliation and work with the Transitional Federal Government to restore law and order.
“An uncoordinated intervention in Somalia will result in the warlords running rings around all of us and is an approach that isbound to fail besides compounding the problem and increasing conflict that has resulted in the death of many,” said Tuju who is the current chairman of the IGAD Council of Ministers.
The minister was speaking in Nairobi after holding talks with the IGAD official on the Somali crisis.
The regional body’s statement came as fighting subsided in Mogadishu following a two-day ceasefire declared by an Islamic militia and warlords in Somalia’s capital as death toll rose to over 130.
Fighting had escalated steadily since last week, when Islamic extremists, who have alleged ties to al-Qaida, and warlords, took up strategic positions in Mogadishu.
But Tuju appealed to the international community to resist the temptation to engage with different factions in Mogadishu outside the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
He said Kenya and IGAD member states were ready to collaborate with the international community in stabilization of Mogadishu and resolving the Somali crisis.
“Every country has the right to employ its own approach in the fight against terrorism. But Somalia is no man’s land. We won’t resolve the crisis in Somalia through unilateral action and we must strengthen the transitional government to enable it enforce law and order,” said Tuju.
The regional bloc ruled out slapping sanctions against the warring parties but instead urged them to cease fighting to allow for the resumption of humanitarian activities in the war torn Hornof Africa nation.
The regional body’s statement was in apparent reference to United States, which has been accused of secretly supporting secular Somali warlords who have been waging fierce battles against Islamic groups for control of the capital, Mogadishu.
U.S. officials have declined to directly address on the issue of backing Somali warlords, who have styled themselves as a counterterrorism coalition in an open bid for American support.
The U.S. State Department had said Washington would “work with responsible individuals in fighting terror.”
The latest clashes were some of the most violent in Mogadishu since the end of the American intervention in 1994, and left 150 dead and hundreds more wounded.
The regional bloc spearheaded both the Somalia National Reconciliation Conference and the Sudan Peace Process, which were successfully concluded with the establishment of the Transitional Federal Government for Somalia and the signing of the Sudan Peace Agreement.
The IGAD groups Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia. Enditem
Source: Xinhua, May 17, 2006
