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Somalia Negotiators Talk With Islamists
 KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - Negotiators for Somalia's weak, U.N.-backed interim government held peace talks Sunday with delegates from an increasingly powerful Islamic militia that controls most of the country's south, including the capital. The talks, which began Saturday, revolve around a June agreement to discuss political, security, social and economic issues as well as reconstruction, according to a copy of the agenda obtained by The Associated Press.On Sunday, Somali parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden was seen leading delegates from the Somali government into the closed-door talks with Islamic courts representatives led by Ibrahim Hassan Adow, the group's foreign affairs chief. Aden and Adow made no statements before going into the meeting. On Saturday, they said they were committed to peace. Adow warned, however, that foreign interference in Somalia would be "a recipe for the renewal of civil war," alluding to reports that Ethiopian troops had taken up position in three Somali towns. The two sides held talks in June, but failed to resume them in July as planned amid divisions within the transitional government about how to handle the Islamic courts' ascendancy in Somalia. Posted by: Steve White 2006-09-04 |
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