MOGADISHU (Feb. 11) XINHUA - "Somali" Faction leaders broke
up on Thursday night over the proposal of establishing an inclusive administration for
Mogadishu and Southern Somalia as a whole.
Five "major Somali faction leaders", including Hussein Mohamed Aidid, Hussein
Mohamed Bod, Mohamed Qanyareh Afrah, Osman Ali Atto and a representative for Ali Mahdi
Mohamed, met in Shamo hotel of South Mogadishu on Thursday and ended up in a total
failure. Observers believe that it constituted a most serious political setback in the
peace efforts to end the nine years of civil strive, anarchy and lawlessness.
In a written statement, the faction leader Mohamed Bod announced the failure of the
meeting and accused Aidid and his followers for undermining their peace efforts.
He accused Aidid and his supporters for been engrossed into armed confrontations in
Lower Shabelleh region between the Islamic courts and the Rahanwein Resistance Army and in
Bur Hakaba of Bay region between "opposing" Rahanwein people.
Mohamed Bod also accused non-specified foreign governments for supporting the
anti-peace campaign by Aidid's faction in Lower Shabelleh and Bay regions.
Meanwhile, Hussein Hajji Bod, Ali Mahdi's former deputy chairman, also accused Aidid
and Afrah for opposing to Djibouti President Ismail Omar Gelleh's peace plan which had
been supported by the faction leaders in the early days of their meeting in late December
last year.
The details of the Djibouti peace plan for Somalia were aired by the BBC (British
Broadcasting Corporation) Somali Service on Thursday and has been warmly welcomed by the
majority of the Somalis.
However, Afrah, a close ally of Aidid, denied the proposal outright, describing it as a
plan for segregating the southern politicians from those of northwest and northeastern
regions of Somalia.
Djibouti President proposed to hold a reconciliation conference in Djibouti between
April 20 and May 5 this year and be attended by what is called the clean Somalis whose
personal interests are less important than the common good.
In the conference, politicians, clan elders and civil society members would endorse a
president, a prime minister and a parliament spokesman.
According to the proposal, the president, the prime minister and the parliament
spokesman will reside in Mogadishu in June, and the prime minister will start selecting
his cabinet of ministers for the completion of the Somali government.
However, some well-armed factions including Aidid's are not convinced about the plan.
According to independent politicians, unless an international force or a regional one
comes for its implementation, the Djibouti's peace plan will end up in a failure, similar
to those proposed in Cairo, Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Djibouti itself during the past nine
years war.
Copyright © 2000, Xinhua News Agency, all rights reserved.