US DIPLOMATIC PUSH FOR SOMALIA PEACE PROCESS

Djibouti (HAN), January 12, 2004

The current Bush Administration is willing a major diplomatic initiative to help create a functional government in lawless Somalia, a senior State Department official said Friday.

The aim would be to restore the war-ravaged country to some form of normality for its impoverished people and rein in terrorist elements, including some affiliated with Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network, the official said. Both would boost east African stability and reduce the terrorist threat in the region, the official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

The Somalian capital was ironically the scene of one of the biggest US military fiascos of recent times in October 1993. The US army was fighting in Mogadishu against militiamen of the late warlord Mohamed Farah Aidid when 18 Task Force rangers on two Black Hawk helicopters were killed.

Should it proceed, the US push would see significant US financial, logistical and diplomatic assistance funnelled into faltering Kenyan-mediated negotiations between Somalia’s warring factions, the official said. It could be modelled on US support for peace talks between Sudan’s government and southern rebels, also being mediated by Kenya, that appear close to producing a settlement to end 20 years of civil war, the officicial said.

African leaders attempt to revive Somali peace talks

11 Jan 2004

NAIROBI - East African leaders are meeting in Kenya for 10 days of talks aimed at pushing war-torn Somalia closer to peace. Mediators hope Somali politicians and delegates will select the parliament, speaker and president of a transitional government for the country's seven million people.

War between rival clan militias has killed hundreds of thousands of people since former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni heads the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a seven-country organization promoting economic development in the Horn of Africa.

Somalia is experiencing genocide in slow motion, says Museveni.

He warned Somalian warlords the international community is losing patience with the continued violence. Warring leaders must unite and make peace through dialogue, he says. Somalia's last central government collapsed after Barre fled to exile in Nigeria.

Warlords and clans then carved up the country into their personal kingdoms. Some of Somalia?s most powerful warlords have boycotted the reconciliation talks.

There have been 12 rounds of peace talks since 1991, but none have succeeded.

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To The Editor: The Horn Africa NewsLine, Dr. Ahmed Yasin

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