Yemen to broker deal between Somali factions [Archives:2006/955/Local News]
SANA'A, June 13 ) Foreign Minister Abu Baker Al-Qurbi confirmed on Tuesday that Yemen has offered to mediate in talks between the Somali government and Joint Islamic Courts. Both sides welcomed this gesture. Currently the two factions are holding talks in Mogadishu and “we hope that they can reach to decision,” said Al-Qurbi. “With the presence of the recognized government [at the talks] there is also a hope that they [the Somalis] can get out this crisis,” he added.
The prospect of Yemeni mediation was one of the topics discussed at the Germany-Yemeni talks on Tuesday, said the media agency Aljazeera. The talks between Al-Qurbi and the German parliamentary delegation reviewed the state of affairs in the Horn of Africa and Yemen's efforts to reconcile the competing factions in Somalia.
In this regard, Yemen has received an invitation from the U.S. to share in the meetings of a group of countries called the “Somali Contact Group,” according to Aljazeera. These meetings will be held in New York next week.
According to press reports, Yemeni Ambassador to Somalia, Ahmad Omer said that Yemen seeks to host a meeting between the Somali interim government and the Joint Islamic Courts who currently control the capital city of Somalia, Mogadishu. Ahmad Omer said the meeting aims to reach a security and peace deal in all Somali territories. President Saleh is in constant contacting with all Somali factions in order reconcile the parties to the conflict and thereby end the crisis and stabilize Somalia, according to a statement released by Omer.
Omer expressed Yemen's determination to push forward the dialogue between leaders of the Joint Islamic Courts and the transitional federal government under the leadership of Abdullah Yusef Ahmad.
“We are losely observing developments in Somalia and we have intensive contact with all Somali factions. We are pleased to hear about the start of dialogue between the Somalia Transitional Government and the Joint Islamic Courts to achieve reconciliation that serves Somali national interests,” said Omer.
Omer revealed that Yemen is preparing to open an embassy in Baidoa, located some 200km northwest of Mogadishu, where the seat of the Somali government is temporarily located.
Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991. An interim government was established in late 2004 but is too weak to restore its authority over the capital which has been the scene of armed clashes between warlords and Islamist militias that recently announced their control of the capital.
Yemen has played a significant role in gathering together the Somalia factions that form the current government. In January, the President Saleh brokered a deal between Ahmed and the Speaker of Parliament Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, which enabled the splintered national assembly to hold its first session in the Baidoa.
Official Yemeni sources, who wish to remain unnamed, said the armed conflicts between Islamist and non-Islamist Somali warlords, particularly in Mogadishu, pushed many Somalis to flee to Yemen where authorities have given them refuge.
Other sources said that the death toll from boat trips from Somalia to Yemen is increasing. Somali refugees who have made it to Yemen said that smugglers forced them all overboard into water when they approached the coast.
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