TFG welcomes calls for dialogue

Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has welcomed efforts by the International Contact Group (ICG) to create an inclusive dialogue to end the decade-old conflict in the Horn of Africa country.

"We welcome the call by the Contact Group, and agree that through dialogue we can achieve peace," Abdirahman Dinari, the government spokesman, told IRIN on Tuesday.

The ICG, which was set up by the US after the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) took control of Mogadishu last month, said in a communiqué issued on Monday after a meeting that there should be an inclusive dialogue among Somalis. The meeting, in Brussels, was the ICG’s second since its inception.

The ICG said it "urges all Somali parties to engage in constructive and broad-based consultations to peacefully resolve their differences, build confidence and address issues of common concern, in particular the establishment of the TFIs [transitional federal institutions] in the capital city, Mogadishu".

Dinari said the government had all along "wanted a much broader dialogue, particularly one that includes women's groups and civil society".

The ICG called on Somali parties "to resume immediately and without any preconditions the talks launched and facilitated by the League of Arab States in Khartoum on 22 June".

The second round of the Khartoum talks were to begin on 15 July but the TFG failed to send a delegation, accusing the UIC of violating an earlier agreement. The UIC's delegation is already in Khartoum.

However, a Somali member of parliament told IRIN on Monday that the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP) had voted to attend the reconciliation talks, sponsored by the Arab League.

"Parliament believes that the TFIs were set up to further the reconciliation process and we are all agreed that we should attend the talks," Abdulkadir Sheikh Muhammad, an MP, said.

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