24/11/08 (B475) Djibouti : tenue de la 4ème conférence pour la Paix en Somalie. Il semblerait que les éthiopiens n’aient pas encore commencé leur retrait de Mogadiscio, contrairement à ce qui avait été décidé, mais des voix islamistes de l’opposition qui a signé les accords, s’élèvent pour dénoncer ce retrait qui serait, d’aprés elles, une erreur grave. (5 dépêches en Anglais)

__________________________ 5 – Shabelle (En Anglais)

Shabelle / Depuis dimanche, tenue à Djibouti de la 4ème réunion des discussions pour la Paix en Somalie, sous l’égide de l’ONU. // Fourth Round of Peace Talks Open in Djibouti (En Anglais – Info lecteur)

UN-backed talks have opened will open in Djibouti on Saturday in a bid to end the civil conflict that has raged in Somalia for nearly two decades.

The talks on Saturday which will open at 10:00pm local time are aimed at bringing Somali government officials and exiled opposition leaders into direct dialogue in a push for peace.

The Islamic Courts’ Union, and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, their allies, demands the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops but the two sides have agreed in the early talks the Ethiopians to pull out within 120 days.

The first rounds of discussions, the two sides jointly agreed different articles including the withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops from Somalia within 120 days, but as Friday was the time the Ethiopian troops to pull no withdrawal movement were visible.

There is no sign of any withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from the civilian neighbourhoods despite today being the agreed date on the pull out.

The Ethiopian troops are still based at the positions. This will be a blow to the agreement signed by the Transitional Federal Government of Somali and the Djibouti faction of the ARS recently, if the pulls out of Ethiopian troops do not start in the coming hours.

The Somali Prime Minister, Nur Hassan Hussein, has said that Ethiopian troops will withdraw as agreed. It is not known how this will be possible though the move is widely expected.

__________________________ 4 – Shabelle (En Anglais)

Le premier ministre somalien s’envole pour Djibouti, où se tient la 4éme conférence de la paix en Somalie, sous l’égide de l’ONU. Somali prime minister flies to Djibouti

A delegate members led by the prime minister of the transitional government Nor Hassan Hussein have taken to the air on Monday from the capital to Djibouti where peace talks are going on officials said.

Its yet unknown whether the delegate will overtake Djibouti to other countries or not.

The 4th peace talks in Djibouti between the opposition group of ARS and Somali government aimed to end more than 20 yrs of civil wars in the horn of Africa nation.

In earlier rounds of such meetings, the opposition Islamic Courts’ Union had demanded the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops within 120 days. Sunday’s meeting, held under the auspices of the United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) also followed a week during which transitional president Abdullahi Yusuf announced that his government was on the verge of collapse.

In earlier rounds of such meetings, the opposition Islamic Courts’ Union had demanded the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops within 120 days but the Ethiopian troops are yet to leave in the capital in compliance of the peace agreement.

__________________________ 3 – Shabelle (En Anglais)

Marche de protestations. Des centaines de manifestants ont marché dans Mogadiscio pour soutenir la nouvelle administration de la ville et son maire qui a été nommé dimanche soir. //Protestors march in capital back new regional administration

Hundreds of demonstrators have staged demonstration in the Somali capital Mogadishu showing support of the new Mogadishu administration led by Mohamed Osman Dhagahtur who has been appointed on Sunday night as the mayor of Mogadishu on Monday

The protestors including women and children have marched in Yaqshid and Karan neighborhoods north of the capital chanting recommendation words in show of support to the new administration.

Dhagahtur should think about the internally displaced persons at outside of Mogadishu one slogan one slogan read.

Waving the portraits of Dhagahtur the demonstrators have peacefully ended their demonstration hoping a new change of Mogadishus administration.

__________________________ 2 – CNN (En Anglais)

Contrairement aux accords signés à Djibouti, les troupes éthiopiennes n’auraient pas encore commencé leur retrait de Mogadiscio ce vendredi. // Ethiopian troops yet begin to withdraw from key positions in Somali capital

Ethiopians had agreed to withdraw from some bases by Friday

They were supposed to do so under a peace agreement designed to end conflict

Ethiopian troops have not yet begun to withdraw from key positions in the capital of Somalia two days after they were supposed to do so under a peace agreement designed to end years of conflict.

Ethiopian troops are yet to leave the Somlai capital despite a peace agreement.

The Ethiopians had agreed to withdraw from some bases by Friday under an agreement signed last month by the Somali transitional government and a rebel faction known as the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia.

Ethiopia invaded Somalia two years ago to expel Islamic forces who had conquered Mogadishu. Under the deal signed October 26, a cease-fire between the transitional government and the ARS went into effect November 5. The Ethiopians were to withdraw from from key positions in the capital on November 21, and leave the country entirely early in 2009.

Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein has said that Ethiopian troops will withdraw as agreed.

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate leader of the rebel ARS, told the local radio station Shabelle Saturday that the Ethiopian troops would pull out on schedule.

Insurgents clashed with Somali government forces and their Ethiopian allies Friday, witnesses said, leaving at least 11 fighters dead.

The fighting started when armed insurgent fighters attacked the house of a local commissioner in Mogadishu’s Wadajir district, sparking heavy fighting between the government troops guarding the house and the insurgents.

« I saw 11 men wearing red turbans on the heads dead on the ground, » local resident Mohamed Haji Ali told CNN by phone from a house near where the clashes took place. Other residents provided a similar death toll.

The commissioner whose house was attacked, Ahmed Da’d, said that his soldiers killed 17 insurgents. He displayed what he said were some of the dead insurgents for the media.

It is not clear what will happen if the Ethiopian troops remain in Mogadishu despite the October 26 peace deal. Under that agreement, government and opposition members will form a 10,000-member joint police force to keep order, along with the African Union peacekeeping mission now in place and a U.N. force to be deployed later. Both sides will work toward establishing a unity government in Somalia, which has been riven by 17 years of strife since the collapse of its last fully functional government.

Ethiopia invaded Somalia in December 2006 to install the transitional government in Mogadishu after a decade and a half of near-anarchy. The invasion had the blessing of the United States, which accused the Islamic Courts Union — which captured Mogadishu earlier that year — of harboring fugitives from al Qaeda. The Islamists responded with a guerrilla campaign against government and Ethiopian troops.

Efforts to replace the Ethiopians with an African Union-led peacekeeping mission faltered as the violence worsened, and heavy fighting in Mogadishu and other cities drove hundreds of thousands from their homes. The lawlessness also spilled on to the seas off the Horn of Africa, where international vessels are routinely hijacked by suspected Somali pirates who demand large ransoms.

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Shabelle (En Anglais)

Le leader d’un groupe islamiste d’opposition qui a signé les accords de Djibouti, déclare que l’éventualité d’un retrait des forces éthiopiennes de somalie serait une erreur. // Islamist leader describes Ethiopian troop’s withdrawal delay as « technical errors » (En Anglais – Info lecteur)

The leader of the opposition group signed agreement with the Somali government sheikh Sharif sheikh Ahmed has described the postponement of the Ethiopian troops withdrawal from Somalia as technical slipups

Speaking to Shabelle radio by phone from Djibouti Sharif said that Djibouti is effective on him time saying that there were plans caused the rescheduling the pull out of Ethiopian troops those scheduled to pull out from the residential areas on 21st of November but he noted that there were efforts wanted to complete their departure.

The Djibouti peace agreement is as it was agreed Sharif said.

He acknowledged that world community is trying to accomplish the Djibouti peace pact articles.

He called for the pirates to stop their acts on ships seizures which he described as bad acts

Sharifs remarks come as Somali people were waiting the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops as no pull out movements could be seen in Mogadishu.