By IslamOnline.net & News Agencies "We have started talking to the rebel groups of Hezb al-Islam and the Shebab," Jama said. (Google)
MOGADISHU — The Somali government of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is engaged in clandestine talks with opposition groups to end the deadly fighting that tore the Horn of African country to shreds.
"We have started talking to the rebel groups of Hezb al-Islam and the Shebab," Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Jama said Saturday, September 5, reported Agence France Presse (AFP).
"We are negotiating with these two groups."
The revelation comes two days after President Sharif acknowledged holding secret talks with his arch rival Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, leader of Hezb al-Islam party.
Sharif said has worked with Sheikh Aweys for a long time and still wants to work with him in returning peace and stability in the country.
Sharif and Aweys were leaders of the Islamic Courts Union, which briefly ruled Somalia in 2006 before the Ethiopian invasion.
The two went into collision courses after Sharif joined peace talks with the interim government to end Ethiopian occupation of the Horn of Africa country.
Ethiopian invaded Somalia to oust the Islamic Courts and install the interim Somali government, but Addis Ababa withdrew troops earlier this year under the ferocity of resistance attacks.
The Shehbab and Hezb al-Islam fighters launched a deadly offensive in May to unseat the Somali government.
The fighting has left hundreds of civilians dead, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
More than 200,000 people have also been displaced in the past two months.
But in the past few days, the war-torn country saw a relative lull in the fighting between the two sides
“We hope our mission for broader reconciliation will be fruitful soon," said Jama.
Joining Govt
The Somali minister said that the government has even started to lure some Shebab and Hizb al-Islam party members to its side.
"Some of them have already joined the government,” he said.
Jama expected the whole country would come under the government's control soon.
"We are working closely with community groups and the country will be under government control soon," Jama said.
The Somali government currently controls only small parts of the central region and a few districts of the bullet-scarred capital.
Neither of Shebab or Hezb al-Islam commented on the government's announcement.
However, a Shebab commander said that his group was continuing to beef up defences to prevent a counter-offensive.
Shebab fighters on Saturday started digging trenches to block the streets in some Mogadishu neighbourhoods.
"This is a military tactic, we are pre-empting any attacks from the enemies of Allah and have dug new trenches near the streets leading to their (the government's) positions."
Jama, the Somali foreign minister, vowed that the government would enforce security across the country in the near future.
"We are planning to handle the country's security in the near future,” he said.
“This is our priority and we have support from the international community."
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