By Guled Mohamed)
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Patrizia Sentinelli, Italy's deputy foreign minister, met President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minster Ali Mohamed Gedi on her one-day visit to Rome's former protectorate which has been in chaos for the last 17 years.
"Security can only be realised through a ceasefire," she said in Mogadishu, where there has been a relative lull after fighting earlier this year between allied Somali-Ethiopia troops and insurgents killed at least 1,300 people.
The Somali government, which says it has defeated insurgents including militant Islamists and some elements of the local Hawiye clan, has called a reconciliation conference for mid-June involving hundreds of delegates from round Somalia.
"We request that the (conference) be an all-inclusive political process," Sentinelli added.
"(We agreed) clans would independently and freely select their representatives ... We have an official promise that the (conference) will take place in a harmonious way."
The conference was delayed from April due to the fierce fighting in Mogadishu. Street battles have given way to isolated guerrilla-style attacks in recent days.
A spokesman for the government, set up in 2004 in the 14th attempt to restore central rule to Somalia since warlords ousted dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, welcomed Italy's support.
"The Italians have said they are ready to help the (conference) succeed," the spokesman said.
"The president said anybody is welcome to attend the conference even if it is these boys who roam with guns in the streets. They should leave their guns and attend," he added.
Sentinelli said it was crucial for a small African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Somalia to be beefed up quickly to pave the way for the exit of Ethiopian troops.
Ethiopia's military gave Yusuf's government the muscle to kick Islamists out of Mogadishu over the New Year after they had held the capital and most of the south for six months.
But a promised 8,000-strong AU peacekeeping force has not materialised, expect for a 1,600 vanguard of Ugandan soldiers.
"We did not conceal the aversion -- unacceptable to us -- to the presence of Ethiopian soldiers," she told reporters in Nairobi after her six-hour visit to Mogadishu.
"We think that immediately what we must do is give further support and funding to AMISMOM (the AU mission) so that the Ethiopian troops can withdraw and leave Mogadishu in conditions of security."
Rome has already given 10 million euros to the AU mission in Somalia. But lack of funds, logistical problems, and fears over insecurity have prevented African nations other than Uganda fulfilling their pledges of sending troops.
After a week of various attacks in Somalia, including the killing of four AU soldiers by a remote-controlled bomb, Sentinelli acknowledged the risks of her visit.
"It wasn't like going to visit a park," she said when asked if she was scared in the bullet-scarred coastal capital.
"Mogadishu is a very beautiful city. The view of the sea that greets you stays in your soul, and that makes it all the more difficult to see the destruction there."
Source: Reuters, May 20, 2007