21/05/08 (B448) Shabelle Network : L’opposition somalienne de relibération, basée à Asmara en Erythrée appelle officiellement les habitants de Buloburte à se défendre contre l’envahisseur. Opposition officials deliver speech for the residents of Somali town (En Anglais – Info lecteur)

Some senior officials from Asmara based Somali Reliberation opposition group have delivered speech for hundreds of Buloburte town residents on Monday.

The secretary general of the group Omar Hashi Adan who delivered the utmost speech in the town has encouraged for residents of the town to defend themselves against what he described “the occupation force’s” furtive betray tactics.

He added that the Somalis are needed to be cautious against the disintegration from the foe of Somali people as he put it.

“Somalis have to be on the lookout against the plots of the nation’s enemy” Adan told clapping residents in Buloburte town of Hiran region central Somalia.

As Shabelle asked him whether they would stay on in the town he shrugged off to answer back saying that the worth subject was to made known to the Somali people what he describes “the defrauds of the occupation and puppets”

It’s the first that such high-ranking members from Asmara based opposition group have arrived in Somalia.

ARS is the major opposition group against Somali government and the Ethiopian troops in Somalia.

The group has made condition for the talks with the government the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia as some members of the group described the recent talks between the government and the ARS in Djibouti as waste of time.

« I don’t expect anything tangible to come out of the meeting, » Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, 62 said.

« What two or three people have agreed upon in a short sitting cannot be of good to the public … It’s just a waste of time” he said.

Negotiations started at the weekend over Somalia’s conflict pitting government troops and their Ethiopian military allies against Islamist insurgents, remnants of an ousted sharia courts group led by Aweys.

Asked whether his inflexible stance might cause a rift in the ARS, Aweys said it would actually strengthen the group and help them foster a united approach towards ending the conflict.

« I wish to tell my brothers from the alliance they should come back so that we can first agree together … The meeting was hastily planned and the main thorny issues are not addressed, » he said.

Aweys said dialogue could succeed only if Somalia was freed from « Ethiopian occupation » and its people were able to enjoy freedom and justice.

« SIMPLE SOLUTION »

« The solution is simple. Our enemy Ethiopia should be removed. We have a responsibility to first throw them out then we can organise a national conference after attaining freedom, » the cleric-turned-politician said.

Most Somalis resent the presence of soldiers from Ethiopia, Somalia’s ancient rival. The government sought Ethiopia’s help to recapture the capital Mogadishu in 2006.

Aweys was one of those behind Somalia’s Islamic Courts Council which defeated U.S.-backed warlords in mid-2006, seizing Mogadishu and much of the south before allied Somali-Ethiopian troops ousted them six months later.

Despite gaining some popularity for restoring law and order, the Islamists fell out of popular favour for imposing strict Sharia law, whipping drunkards in public and closing down cinemas and beauty parlours viewed as anti-Islamic.

Aweys urged the world to treat the Somalis, deprived of effective central rule since the 1991 ouster of a dictator, fairly. He indicated change was possible with the U.S. president to be elected this year to replace George W. Bush.

« We would love America to be led by a man who would reduce the current problems in the world, who would ease the suffering of many oppressed people like us, » he said.