By Crystal Orderson
Monday, June 02, 2008
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The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) arrives in Djibouti today to give a fresh boost to peace talks aimed at ending the Somalia crisis that has been going on for nearly two decades.Talks between the warring parties involved in the Somali conflict opened in Djibouti yesterday. Ambassadors from all 15- member nations plan to visit several countries on the continent this week.
Mogadishu is virtually a no go zone for many. Somalia has had no effective government since 1991. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the capital over the past two years. The talks in Djibouti are aimed at bringing Somali government, the Transitional Federal Government and exiled opposition leaders into direct dialogue in a push for peace.
But there were some agonising moments for senior members of the government. A mortar shell exploded near a plane carrying Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the president, as it was preparing to take off from Mogadishu airport, officials and witnesses said. "The president and delegates have left, the Islamists failed to achieve their goal and the mortars did not damage the plane," presidential spokesperson Hussein Mohamed Mohamud was quoted as saying. But as the talks commenced in Djibouti, the Union of Islamic Courts, and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia demanded the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.
A member of the Transitional government said the conflict in Somalia is in fact a proxy war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Meanwhile, Ahmed Ould Abdallah, the UN special envoy to Somalia, said that he was been extremely encouraged by the progress made so far and the huge support received from Somalis inside and outside the country.
Dumisane Khumalo, South Africa's Ambassador to the UN, is leading the Security Council mission to Djibouti. The UN mission wants to reaffirm the Security Council's commitment to comprehensive and lasting settlement of the situation in Somalia. The 15- member Security Council team will meet a delegation of the Transitional Government and members of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia.
Source: SABC, June 02, 2008