RRA factions reconcile, express support for peace process

There has been a realignment of positions within the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA) which governs the southern Somali town of Baidoa after its chairman Hasan Muhammad Nur "Shatigadud" reconciled with one of his rivals Shaykh Adan Madobe.

"We have agreed on a ceasefire and a cessation of hostilities," Shatigadud told IRIN on Thursday. "We have also appointed a committee to implement the agreement on the ground."

Shatigadud and his two deputies - Madobe and Muhammad Ibrahim Habsade - split in July 2002 as a power struggle tore apart the RRA which controls much of the Bay and Bakol regions. Fierce fighting broke out in Baidoa and the town changed hands several times, creating a severe humanitarian crisis.

Shatigadud said he and Madobe were committed to the Somali peace conference which has been underway in Kenya since October 2002. However Habsade has left the talks, unhappy over the provisions of a transitional charter.

"Habsade was in agreement with us to make peace, but he then changed his mind," Shatigadud told IRIN. "But we will talk to him and try and persuade him to join us."

He said he had agreed to reconcile with Madobe "because nobody was gaining any advantage and we want to stop the suffering of the people".

He acknowledged there were still problems in Baidoa, but said the committee had not yet gone there to explain the reconciliation. "There are still some incidents, but after the committee arrives, we hope there will be peace," he stated.

On the peace talks, Shatigadud said that even if an agreement were reached it would not mean much on the ground unless the international community sent an intervention force to keep peace in the country.

"Nothing would change," he said, describing the current state of the talks as "shaky" due to the departure of several key leaders.