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Annan urged the two parties to remain engaged in dialogue to promote peace and national reconciliation.
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WORLD CAPITALS — The international community has
given a warm welcome to the just-minted Arab-sponsored agreement
between the interim government in Somalia and the Union of Islamic
Courts, now in control of large parts of the Horn of Africa country.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan hailed the
agreement as a positive development, said a statement issued by his
office and cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Annan, who is traveling back to New York from
Europe, "urges the two parties to remain engaged in dialogue to
promote peace and national reconciliation," added the statement.
The UN chief commends the Arab League for its
mediation.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa told
reporters late Thursday, June 22, that the interim government and the
Islamic Courts have reached a peace agreement that recognizes
"the legality of the transitional government and the presence of
the alliance of Islamic tribunals."
It also calls for an "end to media and
military campaigns ... the pursuit of dialogue without preconditions
in the framework of mutual recognition" and "the trial war
criminals," he said.
The two sides also agreed to resume talks aimed at
resolving outstanding security disputes on July 15 in Khartoum.
Sudan, current chair of the Arab summit, invited
the Somali delegations and called the Arab League meeting to avert a
new war in the Horn of Africa nation.
Tensions have risen between the government and
Islamic courts since the latter defeated the US-led warlord Alliance
for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) and seized
full control of the capital Mogadishu on June.
Warlords had controlled the capital since the 1991
overthrow of president Mohamed Siad Barre.
After seizing Mogadishu, JIC fighters swiftly
marched northwards, overrunning Jowhar and a string of other small
outposts in Hiiraan region without heavy resistance.
The African country of 10 million has lacked almost
all the trappings of a functional state, such as national systems of
education, healthcare and justice.
Good News
The African Union also welcomed the agreement.
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"This is a crime," Islamic Courts leader Sheikh Shariff Sheikh Ahmad, who arrived in the scene shortly, told Al-Jazeera.
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"The agreement is a very good news for the
whole reconciliation and stabilization process of the country, now
that they have decided to stop fighting against each other," the
AU special envoy for Somalia, Mohamed Ali Foum, told the AFP.
He said the deal could herald a new era in
stabilizing the war-shattered nation.
"It is a very good news because it means
Mogadishu and Jowhar that are under the control of the Islamic courts
may be open for monitoring," added Foum, referring to the capital
and a major town held by the courts.
In Washington, the US State Department said the
agreement is a positive first step toward ending fighting in the
country.
"We believe that this is a positive first step
in what will be a long process to bring security and stability to
Somalia," Adam Ereli, the State Department's deputy spokesman,
told reporters.
"This is a step that we welcome."
A source close to the Islamic Courts has told
IslamOnline.net that the US embassy in Kenya had officially notified
the courts of Washington's desire to enter into a dialogue to
stabilize the country.
The source said a US delegation is expected to
arrive soon in Mogadishu to tackle with the Islamic Courts leaders a
host of issues that are a cause for concern to Washington.
US government officials and experts have said that
secret funding by the CIA for the warlord alliance has backfired,
empowering the same groups the Bush administration has sought to
marginalize.
Reporter Killed
Celebrations of the new deal were marred Friday by
the shooting dead of a Swedish reporter working for the BBC in the
Somali capital while attending a demonstration against international
intervention.
"An unknown gunman approached the reporter
shot him from behind before feeling the scene in the ensuing
confusion," said the correspondent of Al-Jazeera news channel on
air.
"This is a crime," Islamic Courts leader
Sheikh Shariff Sheikh Ahmad, who arrived in the scene shortly, told
the Doha-based broadcaster.
He denied that his group was the organizer of the
demonstration.
Ahmad blamed "foreign hands" for the
grisly crime, recalling a similar killing of a foreign reporter in
2005.
BBC producer Kate Peyton was slain outside a hotel
in Mogadishu on February 9, 2005.
