|
|
|
|
| Last Updated: Dec 15, 2011 - 11:05:44 AM |
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
Ahlu Sunnah and Somali government hold talks in Addis Ababa
14 Feb 14, 2010 - 4:15:56 AM
|
Officials from Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Ahlu Sunna wal Jama’a (ASWJ) are meeting in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in preliminary talks on how best to integrate their forces and face their common enemy, Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam.
The government side is led by Finance Minister Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, Postal and communication minister Abdirisaq Osman Hassan (Jurille) and political advisor to the president lawmaker Mustaf Ahmed Dhuxulow (Dhegdher).
While the delegation from Ahlu Sunnah side is led by a top official called Ma’alin Mahammud Sheikh Hasan.
This meeting, which was going on for about one week now, is organized and hosted by the Ethiopian government, which wants to unite this two faction in a bid to front a powerful alliance that will bring down Al-Qaeda-inspired Al-Shabaab.
However, early signs of the talks have put the government in awkward position as Ahlu Sunnah refuses to officially join it side but pledged support in fighting the militants.
The biggest nightmare for Sheikh Sharif government, according to diplomatic sources, is Ahlu Sunnah’s supremacy once the other Islamist groups are eliminated out of the political scene.
The group, which allegedly gets support from Addis Ababa, controls large swathes of central Somalia and is gripping power in strategic areas around the Hirran and Galgadud.
The meeting comes as the leader of Hizbul Islam, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys vows to continue with the fight against the fragile UN-backed government and its backers.
Speaking to hundreds of displaced residents in the outskirts of Mogadishu, Sheikh Aweys said his group is preparing for holy war against the enemy.
“We will carry out Jihad against the enemy and its backers to free our country,” he said.
He warned Islamists in the country against division, arguing that Ethiopia and the US is keen on plunging the militants into disarray to accomplish their efforts to bar the realization of an Islamic state in Somalia.
“America and Ethiopia don’t want an Islamic state in Somalia, and that is what we are opposed to. People must prepare for war against the government and Ahlu Sunnah, which serve the enemy,”
He said the enemy is using Ahlu Sunnah to divide the Islamists groups in the war-torn country.
“Ahlu Sunnah is a good Islamic name, but it is formed by Americans and other countries to divide the Islamists in the country,”
Ahlu Sunnah has been engaged in deadly armed struggle with Hizbul Islam and Al-Shabaab over the control of some central towns in the country, which has been marred by years of anarchy.
GAROWE ONLINE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
