Sunday, September 09, 2007
Gedi had flown to Djibouti to ask businessman Abukar Omar Adan to use his influence to encourage armed remnants of the movement to accept a government amnesty.
"I am not anymore with the Islamic Courts," Adan told reporters after meeting Gedi amid tight security at a Djibouti hotel. He did not elaborate.
Gedi's interim government is struggling to impose its authority on the Horn of Africa nation, which has been in chaos since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Adan surrendered to the authorities in neighbouring Kenya after Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks and warplanes routed the Islamists from Mogadishu over the New Year.
Adan admitted being in Kenya illegally, but in February an immigration case against him was dropped without explanation.
Source: Reuters, Sept 09, 2007