A leader of Somalia's Islamic Courts force and the influential parliament speaker said on Saturday that they had agreed at talks in Yemen to turn to dialogue between the Islamic authorities and the so cal "government" to resolve differences.
"The Islamic Courts are committed to dialogue with the interim government as a way of resolving differences ... and stopping any moves conducive to military confrontations by any side," speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said in a joint statement.
The statement was issued after three days of talks in the southern port city of Aden under the auspices of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Yemeni president.
It said the two sides would resume dialogue to reach a political settlement guaranteeing the participation of all sides in "government".
The puppet government speaker said he had reached the deal with Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in his capacity as part of the so call "interim authority" represented by puppet "parliament", the "government" and the "presidency".
The agreement was announced after Somalia's powerful Islamic force and weak Ethiopian-backed puppet formation traded insults on Friday as the two sides moved closer to a war that many fear could engulf the region.
Both sides had appeared to ignore urgent appeals to ease soaring tensions, with the Islamic force vowing to attack Ethiopian occupation troops protecting the "administration" and both sides ruling out new peace talks if the status quo remained.
But Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said in Aden that the Islamic authorities were prepared to negotiate with Ethiopia.
The deadline given to the Ethiopians to leave Somalia "does not mean that the Islamic Courts will begin attacking them within a few days if negotiations with them have started [by then]", he said.
"The weapons held by the Islamic Courts are not meant to attack anyone but to preserve the sovereignty of Somalia and defend the rights of the Somali people," the Islamic authority leader added.
The Islamic force have set a Tuesday deadline for Ethiopian occupation troops in the country to leave or face major attacks, an ultimatum that Ethiopia has played down, saying its soldiers will remain as long as the puppet "government" wants.
The joint statement upheld the agreements already signed by the puppet "government" and the Islamic authority force and rejected "interference in Somali internal affairs by any country in the region".
It called for respect of borders with neighboring states and negotiations with these countries to "dispel any fears they might have".
Agencies
Publication time: 18 December 2006, 13:56
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