DJIBOUTI CITY, Djibouti July 27 (Garowe Online) - Somalia's opposition leader, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has called for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops and the 'speedy deployment' of United Nations peacekeepers to the Horn of Africa country plagued by nearly 18 years of war.

Sheikh Sharif, chairman of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), spoke Sunday in Djibouti City at the conclusion of the group's Central Committee meeting, which opened nine days ago.

Sheikh Sharif, Somali opposition leader

"The reasons we have accepted peace include the Somalis living under a tree for one year and seven months, the [Somali] youth dying in the high seas and the insecurity at home," Sheikh Sharif said during a long speech to the ARS Central Committee.

He called on Somalis to "stop the bloodletting of other Somalis," while urging the Ethiopian government to withdraw its forces from Somalia and appealing to UN member states to 'speedily deploy' peacekeepers to replace the Ethiopian army.

The Djibouti Agreement – signed between the Somali government and the ARS – called for Ethiopian troops to leave Somalia after a 'sufficient' number of UN forces are deployed.

But a faction of the ARS, led by Islamist hardliner Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys and based in Eritrea, has rejected the Djibouti Agreement and vowed to continue the anti-Ethiopia insurgency, which is now in its 19th consecutive month.

Sheikh Sharif said it is "unfortunate" that some ARS members have rejected the peace agreement, saying: "I appeal to my brothers [in Eritrea] to join their people and to accept peace."

The Somali opposition leader, who accused the Eritrean government of opposing peace in Somalia, said Eritrea "must stop its interference" in Somali affairs.

Eritrea-based Sheikh Aweys has claimed to be leader of Somalia's opposition, but 106 ARS members are in Djibouti out of the group's total 191 members.

Source: Garowe Online