Somali Islamist head rejects U.N.-sponsored pact
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Hardline Islamist leaders rejected aU.N.-brokered peace pact signed by the Somali government andsome opposition figures, and vowed on Tuesday that war wouldcontinue.
"We don't see that as a peace deal, we see it as a trap,"Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys told Reuters by phone from Eritrea."We encourage the insurgents and the Somali people not to betired of combating the enemy."
Somalia's interim government and some members of the exiledAlliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) signed a dealin Djibouti late on Monday calling for the deployment of U.N.peacekeepers and agreeing to a ceasefire after one month.
"The people have been waiting a long time, so we have aweight of responsibility on our shoulders," Somali PrimeMinister Nur Hassan Hussein said at Monday's ceremony.
He shook hands with ARS chairman Sheikh Sharif Ahmed in thefirst face-to-face contact between the two delegations duringtwo rounds of talks in Djibouti. "It is an historic agreement... it gives back hope," an ARS spokesman said.
But Sheikh Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki, who along withAweys is on U.S. and U.N. lists of al Qaeda associates, saidthose who signed did not represent those fighting theinsurgency against the government and its Ethiopian allies.
"There will be no talks, there will only be bullets andmortars until we recapture our country by force," Turki toldreporters in Mogadishu via radio phone. "We will continue ...until we bring back sharia law."
The reaction of the hardliners underscored the splitbetween militant Islamists and more moderate members of thecoalition that ruled much of Somalia for the latter half of2006 with a combination of military force and sharia law.
'DEAD ON ARRIVAL'
Few believe the Djibouti pact will bring peace to Somaliaafter 18 years of conflict.
The sticking point is the presence of Ethiopian troops inSomalia, who are fighting with the government against theIslamist-led insurgents. The pact called for the replacement ofthe Ethiopians by U.N. troops.
"It was dead on arrival. How many dozen of these have weseen?" said Mark Schroeder, a Somalia analyst with Stratfor.
"A Somalia peace pact is dialogue for the consumption ofthe international community, but as far as the impact for theinsurgency on the ground, it's negligible."
Schroeder said Ethiopia was in no position to withdraw andleave its national security at risk unless U.N. troops arrive,a deployment that had serious difficulty gaining tractionbefore the Djibouti agreement.
Ethiopia's foreign ministry said in a statement it wouldwithdraw "as soon as U.N. troops are deployed."
But Aweys and Turki both said they would fight any foreigntroops, including any U.N. peacekeepers.
The African Union (AU) has 2,200 peacekeepers in Somalia,but they have done little to stem the violence and have beentargeted themselves. The AU wants the U.N. to take over.
"U.N. peacekeepers could not be neutral, and we believethat they serve the American government," Aweys said.
Longing for an end to conflict in their Horn of Africanation of 9 million people, some Somalis welcomed thegovernment-ARS pact but others were sceptical.
"I think assassinations will continue because the Islamists(who signed the deal) in Djibouti do not control the localIslamist fighters," said mother-of-six Amina Farah.
A six-week peace conference in Mogadishu last year alsoproduced a supposed ceasefire pact but had no real impact onthe insurgents' Iraq-style campaign of bombs andassassinations.
(Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu, AweysYusuf and Bryson Hull in Nairobi, Tsegaye Tadesse in AddisAbaba and Omar Hassan in Djibouti; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne;Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
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