The Political Secretary at Somali Mission to the United Nations has said that Somalia's transitional federal government repulsed the offensive by warmongering jihadists of al Qaeda in Somalia. Omar Jamal's comments came on the heels of a heavy artillery fighting that ensued between militia loyal to the Islamic Courts Union and forces of transitional government yesterday. The fighting took place just 45 kilometres from Baidoa, the seat of the transitional government, with both sides claiming to have gained the upper hand. Following the intervention of the European Union's (EU) Commissioner for Development, Louis Michel, the two warring parties agreed to return to peace talks in Sudanese capital Khartoum, although no date has been fixed. "This is not the first time the Islamists in Somali said one thing, and did right the opposite," the Somali envoy declared in a statement today, dispelling reports from some quarters that the Interim President Abdullahi Yusuf has left Baidoa for security reasons. Mr Jamal said he had spoken to President Yusuf this morning, who confirmed that he is still in his Baidoa office.
Somalia's internationally recognised transitional government increasingly refers to the Mogadishu-based Islamist movement as an al Qaeda group, after it was revealed that the Somali Islamists have recruited radical jihadists from abroad to join their fight to take over the country. al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has also appealed on behalf of the Mogadishu group at least twice, saying Muslims should go to Somalia to assist in the fighting. The Baidoa-based government, on the other hand, has been able to recruit massive aid from neighbouring Ethiopia, which has sent troops and arms to Somalia to protect President Yusuf's government. This support is however very controversial in Somalia, as most Somalis regard Ethiopia as the country's historic enemy. Meanwhile, religious leaders in Africa called on Somalia's warring factions to broker peace and return to negotiation table as a solution to the 16-year long war that still claims several lives on a daily basis in the country. At a press conference in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the group representing African religious bodies of national, regional and international levels, urged the international community to apply the regional initiative that called for the establishment of a government of national unity in the country - the only way to avoid a full-blown war in Somalia. "We call upon all actors in the Somalia arena to practice maximum restraint and to exert all pressure on the parties to cease any further escalation in the already volatile environment," Agnes Abuom, a representative of the World Council of Churches told the press.