Hard-line opposition leader rejects Somali peace deal
27/10/2008 16:26
Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, Islamist leader of the Asmara-based hard-line
faction of the opposition Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia (ARS), today
reiterated his rejection of the ceasefire agreement signed yesterday between the
Somali transitional government and another faction of the ARS.
Speaking to
the local Shabelle radio, Aweys, described the deal as "betrayal," saying the
agreement was "designed to undermine the Somali people."
He vowed his
fighters will continue attacking targets of Somali government officials and its
forces and the Ethiopian troops backing it. He said that his faction will "fight
on until the last Ethiopian soldier leaves Somali soil."
"They just want to
revive the failing government and those in Djibouti (the opposition) just took
the path of the government," Aweys said.
Yesterday, a delegation from the
Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and representatives from the ARS
opposition faction led by the moderate Islamist leader Sheik Sharif Shiek Ahmed
signed a ceasefire agreement and a power sharing deal after a number of other
previous deals failed to stop the violence in the war-ravaged country.
The
TFG and ARS have decided to stop waging hostile campaigns against each other "by
using the media both in the country and abroad."
"Effective 26 October, 2008
ceasefire observance has been announced. It will become effective 5 November
2008," the agreement said.
Under the agreement, both sides called upon their
supporters and the Somali population "to adhere and support this cessation of
armed confrontation in the interest of the Somalia."
The agreement also
stipulates the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from specific areas in the capital
Mogadishu and the central Somali town of Baldwyn before their full withdrawal
from Somalia.
They have also agreed "the early establishment of a Somali
Unity Government."
Other Somali insurgent groups, including the hard-line Al-
Shabaab Islamist movement, oppose the agreement with the Somali government,
vowing they will continue to fight as long as the Ethiopian troops are in
Somalia.
Xinhua
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