Che Guava
The Juicy Revolutionary
(Possibly) good news from the 'other war':
link-a-doole-doo
Here's hoping that the islamists attend the conference and that some kind of resolution can come out of this...
Somalia agrees to talks with Islamists
BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) - Somalia's interim government has agreed to new talks with the country's powerful Islamists, a senior official said on Tuesday, reviving some hope of a negotiated end to the crisis in the Horn of Africa country.
"We will go to Khartoum without any preconditions," said Abdirizak Adam, interim President Abdullahi Yusuf's chief of staff.
He was speaking after U.N. special envoy Francois Lonseny Fall met Yusuf in his base in the provincial town of Baidoa and asked the government to attend talks in the Sudanese capital on Aug 1-2. It was not immediately known if the Islamists would also agree to attend.
Talks to prevent a standoff between the two sides from spiralling into war broke down on July 22, when the Islamists pulled out because of a reported incursion into Somalia by Ethiopian troops to defend the fragile interim government.
Fall's visit came a day after the African Union (AU) urged the U.N. Security Council to speed up plans to ease an arms embargo on Somalia to allow foreign peacekeepers to deploy.
The appeal followed an agreement by the AU and the east African regional body IGAD to send troops to help secure peace in Somalia.
The plan has been repeatedly rejected by the Islamists, who control Mogadishu and a large swathe of southern Somalia after defeating U.S.-backed secular warlords early in June.
link-a-doole-doo
Here's hoping that the islamists attend the conference and that some kind of resolution can come out of this...