From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Mon Mar 15 2010 - 11:56:45 EST
"Analysts say Ahlu-sunah Wal-jamea have long enjoyed Ethiopian support,
receiving money and weapons in return for trying to stop Somali Islamists
from crossing the long, porous border into Ethiopia, where ethnically Somali
rebels are already fighting against Ethiopia's government" Somali government
signs deal with powerful militia
Somalia's government signed an agreement with a powerful militia on Monday
that offers high-level militants senior government positions in return for
their military support during a long-planned offensive against an Islamist
insurgency.
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN
Associated Press Writer
MOGADISHU, Somalia —
Somalia's government signed an agreement with a powerful militia on Monday
that offers high-level militants senior government positions in return for
their military support during a long-planned offensive against an Islamist
insurgency.
The agreement gave the Ahlu-sunah Wal-jamea militia five ministries as well
as diplomatic posts and senior positions within the police and intelligence
services.
The militia holds several towns and districts in central Somalia. The weak
U.N.-backed government barely clings to a few blocks of the capital of
Mogadishu with the help of more than 6,000 African Union peacekeepers.
The government came under attack by insurgents again on Monday as both sides
traded mortar and machine gun fire after the president returned from Dubai.
Casualty figures were not immediately available. Scores were killed in
fighting last week.
Moalin Mohamud Sheik Hassan, the militia's head, signed the deal with Somali
finance minister Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden at a ceremony held at the African
Union's headquarters in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.
Analysts say Ahlu-sunah Wal-jamea have long enjoyed Ethiopian support,
receiving money and weapons in return for trying to stop Somali Islamists
from crossing the long, porous border into Ethiopia, where ethnically Somali
rebels are already fighting against Ethiopia's government.
The militia was active in the 1990's but grew prominent in 2008 after
Somalia's traditional Sufis were angered by the destruction of the tombs of
their saints by hardline Islamists.
Ethiopia sent troops into Somalia in 2006 to topple the Islamists but
withdrew a year ago amid concerns their presence was only fueling the
conflict. Both Ethiopia and its archenemy Eritrea have repeatedly been
accused of using Somalia to fight a proxy war.
Somalia, which has not had a central government for 19 years, is split not
only between the Islamists and the government but also freelance clan
militias.
Underscoring the difficulties, the same day the agreement was signed a
senior militia official, Sheik Hassan Qoryoley, denounced it, saying there
had not been enough consultation. He objected to a section that called for
integrating the group's fighters into government forces.
---Associated Press Writer Malkhadir M. Muhumed in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report.
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