20 July 2006
The senior United Nations envoy to Somalia today urged leaders of the Transitional Federal Government and the Supreme Council of the Islamic Courts to restrain their respective forces and called for them to resume the dialogue they started in Sudan last month.
"I appeal to both sides to respect the ceasefire and other provisions of the Khartoum agreement, including their commitment to refrain from any provocations that could lead to an escalation of the situation," Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, said. "The place to deal with differences is at the negotiating table," he stressed.
Ambassador Fall said that the leadership of the Transitional Federal Government and representatives of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Courts had made a "good beginning" when they met in Khartoum last month.
"A continuation of the Khartoum process will give them a furtheropportunity to flesh out their expectations and move towards a peaceful solution," he said.
Stressing that Somalia "desperately" needs peace if it is to rise above the humanitarian emergency that has engulfed much of the population, he urged the parties "to consider the interests of the people first and put aside political calculations."
Early last month, the Union of Islamic Courts drove warlords out of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, which has not had a functioning government since the collapse of President Muhammad Siad Barre's regime in 1991. The Transitional Federal Government and the Union of the Islamic Courts reached an agreement on 22 June with the facilitation of the League of Arab States.
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