Text of report by Somaliland newspaper `Jamhuuriya' on 5th May

Faction leader Husayn Muhammad Aydid has strongly condemned the Somali reconciliation conference currently taking place in Arta, Djibouti.

Addressing a press conference in Mogadishu yesterday, the faction leader said the conference, organized by Ismael Omar Gelleh's government, was of no consequence, as it was misguided. He said that there was not a single government in the world that had been set up by civil societies, adding that traditional leaders currently gathered in Djibouti could never form a government. "The Djibouti conference is misguided, because nowhere in the world will you find a government that has been set up by civil societies," Aydid said.

The faction leaders has on several occasions previous to this condemned the Djibouti peace plan.