ASMARA (AFP) — Somali opposition figures, including top Islamist leaders, opened a 10-day congress in Eritrea Thursday with a call for a swift withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from their war-torn country.
Some 400 delegates gathered in the Eritrean capital for the meeting, which came exactly a week after the close of a clan reconciliation conference sponsored by the interim government and the international community in Mogadishu.
Sheikh Hassan Aweys, the overall leader of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) that briefly controlled large swathes of Somalia before being ousted earlier this year by Ethiopian-backed government forces, was present at the gathering.
The Islamist movement's other top leader, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, urged Ethiopia to pull its troops out of Somalia and criticised its US ally in his opening speech.
"We hold this conference to establish a political organisation that liberates the country and ends the violence and chaotic situation," he said.
"We call upon Ethiopia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Somalia and stop its imperialistic adventure on our territory," the senior ICU leader added.
He warned that a prolonged conflict in Somalia would eventually spill over into neighbouring countries and risk setting the whole Horn of Africa region ablaze.
"We remind her (Ethiopia) that the longer the conflict goes on, the higher the risk it will engulf the whole region."
"The United States' foreign policy towards Somalia has been strangely confrontational. We call upon the United States to play a more positive role in the Somali conflict," Sheikh Sharif went on.
Sheikh Aweys and other members of the Islamic Courts Union are wanted by the United States over suspected links with the Al-Qaeda network.
Washington has backed Ethiopia's military operations in Somalia and toughened its stance against Addis Ababa' arch-foe and neighbour Eritrea, accusing it of arming Islamists in Somalia and elsewhere in the region.
The Islamist movement boycotted the Mogadishu conference, arguing that any peace efforts should take place only after an Ethiopian withdrawal. In three years of existence, Somalia's Western-backed transitional government has failed to restore stability.
It blames the Islamic Courts Union and allied clan leaders for the near-daily guerrilla-style attacks which have plagued Mogadishu in recent months. In the latest violence to rock the seaside capital, three more civilians fell victim Thursday to the latest spate of fighting between government forces and insurgents.
Eyewitness Ali Mohammed Anwar told AFP an elderly man and a woman were killed when a police patrol came under grenade attack near the capital's Salama mosque.
"I saw one of the policemen open fire, killing an old man holding a bag in his hand," he said. "The woman was hit by shrapnel from the grenade blast and was then run over by a bus as she lay on the ground."
Another civilian was killed by Somali security forces in Mogadishu's Holgawad neighbourhood as he tried to cross a heavily-guarded street late at night. Somali security launched a wide crackdown earlier this week aimed at flushing out insurgents from a few pockets in the capital that still escape government control. Since the ouster of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has had no central authority and defied at least a dozen initiatives aimed at ending bloody tribal feuds and restoring stability.
Some 400 delegates gathered in the Eritrean capital for the meeting, which came exactly a week after the close of a clan reconciliation conference sponsored by the interim government and the international community in Mogadishu.
Sheikh Hassan Aweys, the overall leader of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) that briefly controlled large swathes of Somalia before being ousted earlier this year by Ethiopian-backed government forces, was present at the gathering.
The Islamist movement's other top leader, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, urged Ethiopia to pull its troops out of Somalia and criticised its US ally in his opening speech.
"We hold this conference to establish a political organisation that liberates the country and ends the violence and chaotic situation," he said.
"We call upon Ethiopia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Somalia and stop its imperialistic adventure on our territory," the senior ICU leader added.
He warned that a prolonged conflict in Somalia would eventually spill over into neighbouring countries and risk setting the whole Horn of Africa region ablaze.
"We remind her (Ethiopia) that the longer the conflict goes on, the higher the risk it will engulf the whole region."
"The United States' foreign policy towards Somalia has been strangely confrontational. We call upon the United States to play a more positive role in the Somali conflict," Sheikh Sharif went on.
Sheikh Aweys and other members of the Islamic Courts Union are wanted by the United States over suspected links with the Al-Qaeda network.
Washington has backed Ethiopia's military operations in Somalia and toughened its stance against Addis Ababa' arch-foe and neighbour Eritrea, accusing it of arming Islamists in Somalia and elsewhere in the region.
The Islamist movement boycotted the Mogadishu conference, arguing that any peace efforts should take place only after an Ethiopian withdrawal. In three years of existence, Somalia's Western-backed transitional government has failed to restore stability.
It blames the Islamic Courts Union and allied clan leaders for the near-daily guerrilla-style attacks which have plagued Mogadishu in recent months. In the latest violence to rock the seaside capital, three more civilians fell victim Thursday to the latest spate of fighting between government forces and insurgents.
Eyewitness Ali Mohammed Anwar told AFP an elderly man and a woman were killed when a police patrol came under grenade attack near the capital's Salama mosque.
"I saw one of the policemen open fire, killing an old man holding a bag in his hand," he said. "The woman was hit by shrapnel from the grenade blast and was then run over by a bus as she lay on the ground."
Another civilian was killed by Somali security forces in Mogadishu's Holgawad neighbourhood as he tried to cross a heavily-guarded street late at night. Somali security launched a wide crackdown earlier this week aimed at flushing out insurgents from a few pockets in the capital that still escape government control. Since the ouster of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has had no central authority and defied at least a dozen initiatives aimed at ending bloody tribal feuds and restoring stability.
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