Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu)
Aweys Osman Yusuf
16 October 2006
Mogadishu — The Arab League has refuted a report that Somalia's president Abdulahi Yusuf and Premier Ali Mohammed Gedi had dispatched a message to the League justifying over a meeting with Arab League representatives that would come to Baidoa, southern Somalia.
The government spokesperson Abdirahman Dinari said, according to London based al-Sharqalawsat newspaper, that Somalia's two top leaders had informed the League they would not convene with the Arab League agents who will reach Baidoa in unspecified date.
Dinari stated the federal government had arranged a delegation composing of ambassadors and ministers to meet with the Arab League delegation.
"If Arab League chairman Amir Musa came to Baidoa, the president and the premier would meet with him. But since the League delegation is led by an ambassador, it will not be a problem if the government's ambassadors and ministers convene with their counterparts", said Abdirahman Dinari.
An Arab League official has denied they received any response from the Somali institutions, indicating they are still waiting for the government acceptance over their arrival to war-ravaged country Somalia.
Another development
The Union of Islamic Courts supreme leader Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys has said they were ready to attend Khartoum peace talks in its third phase that is supposed to occur on 30 October.
Sheik Aweys warned the federal government that if it boycotts the mediation of Arab League in their disagreement, it would clarify the government's refusal over Arab interference in Somalia's protracted racial conflict.
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