16/04/08 (B443) Press TV Iran : Le parti Asmara d’opposition en Somalie accepte des discussions avec le Gouvernement de transition soutenu par l’Ethiopie / Somali opposition agrees to talks (En Anglais – Info lecteur)

Insurgency has made Somalia unstable.

Somali Asmara opposition party has agreed to open talks with the Ethiopia-backed interim government, after it expressed hope for peace.

Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, head of Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia based in Asmara, confirmed the report in a press conference in Djibouti Wednesday, adding he was placing no conditions on the inter-Somali talks even though the situation « has not changed » and « the Ethiopian troops remain in Somali soil ».

He also expressed readiness to offer help to bolster security in Somalia for the sake of putting an end to the daily violence involving civilians.

However, Sheikh Mukhtar Robbow, spokesman for al-Shabaab — the most powerful opposition group in Somalia — dismissed the talks, saying they will continue to fight.

Robbow also warned the current African Union forces in Somalia known as AMISOM — made up of about 2,300 troops from Uganda and Burundi — to leave the country within days.

« We don’t want you in our country… we are not even happy to see your dead bodies in our beautiful land, » Robbow warned during a phone conversation with Press TV correspondent in Somali.

Also in the latest violence in north Mogadishu, government soldiers opened fire on a bus carrying more than 22 civilians, seriously injuring seven innocent people.