DJIBOUTI
(AFP) - The UN's Somalia envoy called Monday on
Somalia's main political rivals to seek an end to
years of bloodshed as peace talks opened Monday in
Djibouti
"I call on them to think of the
terrible political, security and humanitarian crisis
in their country and put all their efforts into
resolving it," said envoy Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah.
His statement said he was "pleased
that
Somali leaders have put the wellbeing of
their country and the safety of their countrymen as
their priority."
The opening of the talks had been
due to take place on Saturday but was delayed as
some delegates had yet to arrive in Djibouti.
Ould-Abdallah has already met
separately with leaders from the transitional
government and the
Asmara-based
opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia
(ARS).
Ould-Abdallah will seek to build
trust between the two sides, although Islamist
leaders and allied hardline clans are boycotting the
talks as they did in 2007 when the last attempt to
reconcile the political rivals failed.
The fresh drive to bring all
parties to the negotiating table comes after Nur
Hassan Hussein replaced Ali Mohamed Gedi as prime
minister.
The talks will be held against a
backdrop of daily clashes between Islamist
insurgents and Ethiopian-backed
Somali
government troops.
On Monday, at least three
civilians were killed following an insurgent attack
against an Ethiopian military convoy south of the
capital Mogadishu, witnesses said.
Islamists have said they will not
negotiate with the government until the Ethiopian
army, which came to rescue of the embattled
government in late 2006, leaves Somali soil.
The restive country has been
devastated by almost uninterrupted civil conflict
since the 1991 ouster of
former
president Mohamed
Siad
Barre which has defied at least a dozen peace
initiatives.
