allAfrica.com * Opposition Says Implementation of Djibouti Pact Condition for Cease-Fire Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu) NEWS 13 June 2008 Posted to the web 13 June 2008 Officials of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia [ARS] who are in Djibouti said they will continue with their resistance to foreign troops until there is a confirmation on the implementation of the recently signed agreement. Speaking to the reporters in Djibouti Abdirahman Abdishakur who is among ARS members in Djibouti said they are not responsible for opposition members who are not satisfied with the agreements signed between his group and the government. He added that the agreement does mean an end to resistance until the agreement with the government and international community has been implemented. Abdirahman Abdishakur also said they will reconsider the agreement if any of the points agreed is either changed or delayed in its implementation. "I would therefore like to tell those who are suspicious of the agreement to be satisfied with it. I will talk about the rumours that the Alliance condemns those engaged in the resistance. That has been a big misinterpretation. What it meant was that the Alliance is not responsible for the individual groups that are engaged in the resistance and that it is taking responsibility for the agreement and those who implement it and can take charge of it. But those who do not honour the agreement are not part of the alliance and we will not be responsible for them. It has been widely misinterpreted. We are not stopping the resistance which we have been engaged in the past. We said we will stop fighting if Ethiopian troops withdraw from the country and be replaced by UN peacekeepers from friendly countries" he said. The ARS official said the United Nations was satisfied with the way things were currently going unless changes were made by the other party. "A security committee headed by the United Nations will be formed comprising of five individuals. It will be the committee's responsibility to oversee there is cease-fire, withdrawal of Ethiopian troops and how the other peacekeepers are to be deployed in Somalia. Our forces [ARS] will be recognized and if we, Somalis, reconcile and a political solution is found. Our [forces] will be integrated in the Somali police and army. The security committee will be in charge of it all in collaboration with the United Nations" he added. Also Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad, the chairman of the Alliance for Re-Liberation of Somalia [ARS], has said that the alliance is carrying out a liberation operation in order to remove the Ethiopian forces from Somalia. In an exclusive interview with Al-Jazeera, Sheikh Sharif said that all resistance groups support negotiations with the government in order to set a timetable for the departure of the Ethiopian forces from the country. "We are carrying out a liberation operation now. In case the Ethiopian forces leave, with whom will l fight then? If a timetable was set for the departure of the Ethiopian forces, with whom will they fight? The whole resistance supports negotiations because fighting is intended to find a solution via negotiations; this is what happened, and negotiations are ongoing, the results, and what the whole resistance wants is to remove the Ethiopian forces" he said. Sharif has been leading the ARS members took part Djibouti peace talks where they've signed peace agreement with the transitional government. Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) chief Sheikh Sharif Ahmed signed the accord late Monday. The outcome of the talks were rebuffed by senior islamist leaders including Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys "I do not believe that the outcome of this conference will have any impact on the resistance in Somalia. We shall continue fighting until we liberate our country from the enemies of Allah," Aweys told Mogadishu-based Shabelle radio. "The aim of the meeting was to derail the holy war in the country," added Aweys, a hardline cleric designated a terrorist by the United States for suspected links to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network. Aweys is a member of the ARS, an opposition umbrella group dominated by Islamists and based in the Eritrean capital Asmara. While some Islamist leaders and influential clan leaders joined the talks, Aweys and other hardline Islamists stayed away, saying they would not participate unless Ethiopian troops backing government forces pulled out of Somalia. They also insisted the conference was biased. According to the accord, Ethiopian troops would withdraw after the United Nations deployed peacekeepers from countries friendly to Somalia -- excluding neighbouring states -- within 120 days after the armistice takes effect. On May 15, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution opening the way to a gradual return of UN staff to Somalia and possibly resulting in the deployment of peacekeepers there, but did not set a timetable. But Aweys said the new truce did not set a deadline for the pullout of Ethiopian troops, who deployed at the end of 2006 and ousted Islamists from south and central Somalia. "The agreement does not offer a timetable of the withdrawal of Ethiopian forces. It is not clear when they will leave," Aweys added. The Islamists have waged a guerrilla war since then, which according to international rights groups and aid agencies has left at least 6,000 civilians dead. The country has been plagued by an uninterrupted civil war since the 1991 overthrow of president Mohamed Siad Barre. A string of previous peace initiatives and truce deals have failed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2008 Shabelle Media Network. All rights reserved. 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