Premier wary of opposition attending peace talks

The prime minister of Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG) has expressed reservations over a decision by opposition groups to attend Somali reconciliation talks in Kenya next month.

"It is a welcome development if it is genuine," Prime Minister Hasan Abshir Farah told IRIN on Monday. "I don't, however, believe it is genuine".

At the end of three days of discussions in the Ethiopian town of Dire Dawa last week, leaders of the opposition Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC) agreed to attend the peace talks in Nairobi. According to the pro-Ethiopian government Walta Information Centre, a press release issued by the SRRC said the Dire Dawa meeting was briefed by a high-level Ethiopian delegation.

"The Ethiopian delegation underlined the imperative necessity of participating at the upcoming national reconciliation conference," the press release said. The delegation "further emphasised that there is no other option for all Somali parties than to commit themselves to fighting terrorism and establishing a broad-based and viable government for Somalia."

The press release said that after an "in-depth discussion" on the situation in Somalia, the SRRC "reaffirmed its commitment to participate in the upcoming national reconciliation conference to be held in Nairobi under the auspices of IGAD [Inter-Governmental Authority on Development]." In this regard, the SRRC decided to set up a technical committee "to work out modalities for the way forward".

But TNG prime minister Farah said a recent meeting of the regional grouping, IGAD, in Khartoum agreed that a reconciliation conference would be held between the TNG and the opposition.

"The SRRC and their sponsors, the Ethiopians, are now saying that we should start from scratch [whereby all the sides, including the TNG, come as a faction]," he told IRIN. "If that is what they mean by attending the Nairobi conference then the aim is to destroy the conference and nothing more. They know very well that we will welcome all efforts to build on the Arta process [in Djibouti where the TNG was established] but we will never be part of efforts meant to derail those achievements."

In another interview with Somalia's Radio HornAfrik, Farah said the Nairobi talks "will be a last chance".

"We want Somaliland to come back and attend the meeting...Somalia shall not be divided," he said. "Puntland should also come back. There will be no independent region. Instead there will be one united Somalia."