DJIBOUTI PEACE ACCORD | The reconciliation meetings were held in Sana'a, Yemen, and attracted Islamist delegations from Eritrea and Djibouti.

SANAA, Yemen July 18 (Garowe Online) - A weeks-long reconciliation process within the fractured Islamic Courts movement ended this week, with both sides announcing a new agreement that would end a public dispute among Somalia's Islamist leaders.

The reconciliation meetings were held in Sana'a, Yemen, and attracted delegations from Eritrea and Djibouti, where exiled Islamists have lived since the Ethiopian intervention of late 2006.

Dahir Mohamud Ghelle, who spoke for the Djibouti-based Islamic Courts wing, told reporters on Friday that the ceasefire clause, the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces from Somalia and their replacement by a United Nations stabilization force were all hotly debated during meetings in Yemen.

"We have reached a final agreement…we have agreed to acknowledge the Djibouti peace accord and to await its implementation," Mr. Ghelle said.

Officials from the Eritrea-based Islamist faction have not addressed the media about the Yemen talks, but one senior insider confirmed to Garowe Online that an agreement had been reached.

According to Mr. Ghelle, t he Islamic Courts factions agreed to accept UN peacekeepers on the condition that they are from "Muslim countries."

On June 9, the Prime Minister of Somalia's Ethiopian-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein, signed a peace pact in Djibouti with Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, chairman of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), which is dominated by Islamists.

The peace agreement called for a 90-day ceasefire to be implemented within one month, while setting a timetable for Ethiopian troops to withdraw by October 9 after being replaced by a "sufficient" number of UN peacekeepers.

But the agreement immediately stirred public divisions among Somalia's Islamist factions, including within the ARS opposition alliance itself.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the Islamists' exiled spiritual chief who is accused of terror links by the U.S. government, rejected the Djibouti peace accord outright after accusing Sheikh Sharif of violating ARS bylaws.

He repeatedly urged Somali rebels to continue the anti-Ethiopian insurgency, which has already killed upwards of 8,500 people since January 2007, according to human rights groups.

Further, al Shabaab fighters, who formed the core of the Islamic Courts military machine and are believed to be spearheading the insurgency, did not participate at the Djibouti peace conference and are not part of the ARS alliance, which also includes ex-Somali lawmakers and Diaspora activists.

The militant group has claimed responsiblity for numerous assassinations, bombings and gunfights with allied Somali-Ethiopian forces since the Djibouti peace accord was signed more than a month ago.

Critics have voiced many doubts about the implementation of the peace deal, especially regarding the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces and the arrival of UN peacekeepers in the war-ravaged Horn of Africa country.

Nearly 3.5 million Somalis will be in need of food assistance by the end of this year, according to the UN's World Food Program.

Source: Garowe Online