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SANAA (AFP) - Four Somali warlords warned the international community Saturday not to recognize the election of Abdulkassim Salat Hassan to the country's presidency, saying it could lead to civil war, and called instead for a new peace conference. "If a complementary peace conference for general reconciliation in Somalia is not held, we are going to resort to violence and struggle against the regime of the new president Abdulkassim Salat Hassan," warlord Hussein Mohamed Aidid told journalists here at the end of a visit to Yemen. A transitional national assembly in Arta, in neighboring Djibouti, elected Salat president August 25th. "We are ready to negotiate with all parties to achieve national accord, on condition that the results of the Arta peace conference are rejected," Aidid said. He called on the international community "not to recognize the Arta peace conference, because any such recognition could lead to a new war in Somalia." Aidid said he and three other warlords objected to the fact those attending the Arta included people who had held posts in the government of former president Siad Barre, which collapsed in 1991. Another warlord, Osman Hassan Ali, known as "Atto", said a new conference between the Somali factions could be held in Sanaa shortly. "We are going to continue in Sanaa the process of reconciliation and we have agreed with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on the need to put an end to the violence in Somalia and support a permanent peace," he said. Saleh Thursday urged Aidid and Atto, as well as the leaders of two smaller factions, Hussein Haj and Mualed Maani, to cooperate with Salat. The four warlords arrived in Sanaa on Tuesday at the invitation of Saleh, a prominent supporter of the Arta reconciliation process, who attended Salat's inauguration. An official Yemeni source said they had come to "listen to Sanaa's ideas for national reconciliation between the different Somali factions." The authorities in Sanaa say more than half a million Somalis have fled to Yemen to escape the fighting that has racked the country over the past decade since the collapse of Barre's administration left the country without a recognized central authority. Tens of thousands of Somalis turned out Wednesday to welcome Salat back to Mogadishu after his election. |
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