Garowe Online (Garowe)
7 October 2008
A top opposition leader in Somalia has declared that an expected ceasefire between the Somali interim government and the armed opposition has not gone into effect yet.
Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is the chairman of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), a now-fractured opposition coalition.
"The real reason that the Alliance [ARS] opened peace talks with the government is to find a way for Ethiopian troops to leave Somalia, but we have not signed a ceasefire," Sheikh Sharif said while speaking to the media in Saudi Arabia.
The opposition leader's comments follow the second round of negotiations that collapsed last month in Djibouti after the government and the opposition disagreed on a security clause dealing with the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces.
"The bullets will stop when the established committees [Joint Security Committee and Joint Political Committee] bring forth a clear timetable for Ethiopian withdrawal and the security structure afterwards," he added.
Somalia's Islamists groups have largely splintered into opposing camps, with al Shabaab hardliners refusing to recognize the government or engage in peace talks until foreign troops withdraw from Somalia.
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