Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf said on Monday there would be no negotiations with Islamists who ruled the capital Mogadishu and large parts of southern Somalia before they were ousted late last month.
“With regard to holding talks with the courts (Islamists), this will not happen,” he told Al Jazeera television in an interview before he flew to the Somali capital for the first time since he became president in 2004. Yusuf’s entry into Mogadishu on Monday capped a remarkable turn-around in the capital after Islamists were routed by advancing Ethiopian and government troops on Dec. 28. Some Islamists have vowed to fight on. But others meeting in Yemen have offered the prospect of talks to ease the country’s latest crisis and Washington’s top envoy to Africa has promoted dialogue as a way to secure a lasting peace. But Yusuf seemed to rule out this possibility.
Ay-yup. "With regard to holding talks with the courts, this will not happen" would seem to rule out the possibility. (Where do they get these people?)
| I thought the Aethiops eased the latest crisis rather well ... |
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