Somalia: 'Fresh attacks not to affect peace effort'

Published on Wednesday 18th June 2008

Somalia: The attacks against the Ethiopian and Somali government forces by insurgent fighters will not affect the peace deal signed last week between the Somali transitional government and opposition leaders in Djibouti, Somali presidential spokesman said Tuesday.

Speaking at a press conference in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, Spokesman Hussien Mohamoud Hubsired told reporters that the ceasefire agreement signed in Djibouti between the government and the opposition will not be broken by the attacks by what he called anti-peace groups who, he said, were not part of the peace deal.

"It is those who boycotted the talks in the first place carried out the attacks in order to derail the peace process and we hold them, not the signatories (of the agreement), accountable for any breaches of the ceasefire," Hubsired told reporters.

The near daily attacks on Somali government forces and Ethiopian troops have continued unabated since the signing of a peace accord between Somali government and a faction of the opposition Alliance for the Deliberation of Somalia (ARS) in Djibouti last week.

Hardline members of the ARS and the group Al-Shabaab boycotted the talks and rejected the agreement, saying those who attended the talks did not represent them and they will not negotiate with the Somali government until Ethiopian troops withdraw from Somalia.

Under the deal, Ethiopian troops, who crossed into Somalia late in 2006 to help the Somali government oust an Islamist movement, would withdraw after the deployment of a "sufficient number of UN force" to be authorized and deployed within a period of 120 days from the signing of the agreement.

On Monday, the Somali Council of Ministers approved the deal, which is expected to be voted on by the Somali federal parliament. A number of lawmakers have expressed their opposition to the deal, saying, "it does not go far enough."

If the parliament approves the deal, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf will decide whether to reject or sign it into law.

The president has welcomed the agreement with the opposition as a step towards peace, saying the Somali government will implement its "share of the deal."

Somalia has been without a strong central government since the overthrow of the former leader Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991.