Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu)
22 November 2008
Mogadishu — UN-backed talks have opened will open in Djibouti on Saturday in a bid to end the civil conflict that has raged in Somalia for nearly two decades.
The talks on Saturday which will open at 10:00pm local time are aimed at bringing Somali government officials and exiled opposition leaders into direct dialogue in a push for peace.
The Islamic Courts' Union, and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, their allies, demands the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops but the two sides have agreed in the early talks the Ethiopians to pull out within 120 days.
The first rounds of discussions, the two sides jointly agreed different articles including the withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops from Somalia within 120 days, but as Friday was the time the Ethiopian troops to pull no withdrawal movement were visible.
There is no sign of any withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from the civilian neighbourhoods despite today being the agreed date on the pull out.
The Ethiopian troops are still based at the positions. This will be a blow to the agreement signed by the Transitional Federal Government of Somali and the Djibouti faction of the ARS recently, if the pulls out of Ethiopian troops do not start in the coming hours.
The Somali Prime Minister, Nur Hassan Hussein, has said that Ethiopian troops will withdraw as agreed. It is not known how this will be possible though the move is widely expected.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 Shabelle Media Network. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Loara, Thanks for your good feeling twards Somalia Hope you the best. Ahmd
Hi This is good news for Somali people, please Somali leaders should be in same opinions to end the deadly disaster in their country.
Thanks to Shabelle news agency for it's fact reporting about Somalia.
Thanks Loara-Germany