Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has called on insurgents to stop fighting and embrace peace.

Ahmed said dialogue is only way to attain sustainable peace in war-torn Somalia, calling on armed groups to lay down their weapons and embrace peace.

”Somalia has been marred by years of chaos and anarchy that killed many people, we as a government are ready for dialogue to end the conflict,” he said in a ceremony held at the presidential palace Villa Somalia.

He said the killings of innocent people are odious crime that would haunt the committer in the world and hereafter, warning the armed opposition over targeting elites in the violent campaign.

The ceremony was held in remembrance of the slain Sports and Youth Minister Suleiman Olad Roble, who died recently in a Saudi hospital over wounds he sustained in Mogadishu hotel blast more than two months ago.

The other speakers of the ceremony include Prime Minsiter Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke and Parliament Speaker Sheikh Adan Madobe, who both preached peace.

Somalia’s main armed groups, Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam have both in the past turned down calls to stop the war and instead embrace peace and talks to solve the escalating crisis that has engulfed the war-torn country for nearly two decades.

President Sharif has not shown any national vision to energize a public reeling from decades of war, displacement and hunger.

GAROWE ONLINE