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Africa Horn
Somalia: President resists insurgency, peace talks put off
2007-07-17
(SomaliNet) Somalia interim president Abdulahi Yusuf said today he had finished three years in the office with political violence and will stay in power for the next two years with boldness and unyielding rule as the national peace conference was adjourned to Thursday after today’s mortar attack around the venue of the talks. At the opening ceremony of the postponed peace conference in north of the Somalia capital Mogadishu, President Yusuf said he would never surrender to what he called ‘the Islamist elements’ whose aim is to destabilize the situation. “Stop the fear, you will die when your destiny ends” said president Yusuf when Ali Mahdi Mohamed, the chairman of the reconciliation conference whispered to him to finalize the speech as mortar shells slammed in an area not far from the conference venue.

The mortar attack, which was coincided with the opening of the peace talks, wounded three civilians in Abdulaziz district, north of the capital. The reconciliation committee did not yet give any reason about the deferral of the talks but sources close to the conference venue say that the meeting was adjourned because of the violence in the capital.

President Yusuf admitted that there is a chaotic situation in the country particularly in Mogadishu. “In fact there is uneasy situation and the government is doing all it can with the help of the society”. He said. “The delegates of Somali clans should not feel frightened but be relaxed and encouraged to maintain their meeting... this is a minor thing, the security forces will end up the matter,” said president Yusuf who wanted to calm down the spirit of the envoys who grew concerns after they received the news of mortar attack.

Meanwhile, the executive council of the ousted Islamic Courts Union Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed who is now in Asmara, Eritrea has condemned the national reconciliation conference as fruitless and senseless. He accused the international community of putting trap for Somali people when they supported what he called ‘the deceitful meeting’ in Mogadishu.
Posted by:Fred

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