Somali Government Reaches Accord with Warlords
12 January 2007
Somalia's interim government has reached an agreement with clan warlords to disarm their militias and join a new national army.
The agreement was reached Friday during talks between the warlords and President Abdullahi Yusuf in the capital of Mogadishu.
While the talks were going on, government troops and militia forces loyal to clan warlord Mohamed Qanyare engaged in a gunfight outside the presidential residence. At least five people were killed and several others wounded.
Somalia's interim government has been trying to establish its authority since driving out Islamist militias with the help of Ethiopian government forces last month. The Horn of Africa nation has been plagued by anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Ethiopian and U.S. forces have been carrying out air attacks in southern Somalia against suspected Islamist militants and al Qaida terrorists. The British-based aid agency Oxfam says the attacks have mistakenly targeted nomadic herdsmen in the Afmadow region, killing 70 people.
The Washington Post says an American military team is in the region to determine if three key suspected al Qaida operatives were killed in a U.S. airstrike on Monday. The newspaper says this is the first time U.S. military forces have stepped foot in Somalia since a mission to stabilize the country ended in 1994.
The three suspects, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Abu Talha al-Sudani and Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, are wanted in connection with the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
U.S. officials have said they believe the suspects were not among the 10 people killed in the airstrike.
Earlier today, the U.S. ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, called for a quick deployment of African Union peacekeepers to Somalia.
The African Union has pledged to send more than eight thousand troops to Somalia.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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