Aideed claims Libya will mediate with Ethiopia

Somali faction leader Hussein Aideed has told reporters in Mogadishu that Libya will host direct talks between him and Ethiopian officials in a bid to avert all-out war in Somalia, AP news agency reported. Aideed, who claimed Ethiopian troops were only 180 km from the capital, said the face-to-face meeting would take place in Tripoli after Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi's return from the OAU summit in Algiers that ended last week. News agencies have cited reports of approximately 5,000 heavily armed Ethiopian soldiers crossing into Somalia - 2,000 at Dolow and as many as 3,000 more at El-Bardeh - and heading east, apparently to take Balidogle airport, 90 km west of Mogadishu, and the town of Qoroley, just outside the key port of Merca and reputed to be the headquarters of the Ethiopian rebel Oromo Liberation front (OLF) in Somalia. Aideed is also reported by Somali media to have made renewed appeals to Eritrea in recent days to supply him with arms and troops, and has threatened to force the Ethiopians out.