From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Mar 18 2010 - 11:54:00 EST
Somalia: Ahlu Sunnah members reject agreement with TFG
18 Mar 18, 2010 - 7:36:14 AM
A section of Somalia’s Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama'a militia group has vowed not
to recognize a deal signed by their fellow group members with the weak
UN-backed Somali government in Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Led by the group’s foreign relation officer, Sheikh Bashir Abdi Olaad and
his colleague Sheikh Abdiqadir Abdirahman (Abu-Zakriya), the section said '
the deal a betrayal to the unity of the group and we feel that this
agreement is intended to disintegrate the group,” Sheikh Bashir told
reporters in Abudwaq town in central Galgadud region.
“This agreement was a betrayal which is meant to hijack the group. We are
making it clear that we do not recognize but also we are not opposed to the
government,” Abu Zakariya said.
On Monday, deputy Prime Ministermar Sharif Xasan led his side in signing a
power-sharing deal with Ahlu Sunnah's overall chairman Ma’alin Mohammud
Sheikh Hassan at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa .
In the agreement, Ahlu Sunnah would be given five ministerial positions, top
appointments in the military, the police, and the intelligence service in
return to its support to ward off militants threatening to topple the
fragile UN-backed government.
The pact was endorsed by African Union, the Arab League, UN Special Envoy
and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
The fragile government is holed up in the few blocks of Mogadishu and
guarded by some 5,300 AU peacekeeping troops with much of the country’s
south and central falling under the hands of powerful insurgents.
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