JEDDAH, 17 October — The Somali expatriate community in the Kingdom yesterday gave its diverse response to the peace talks that began Tuesday in the Kenyan town of Eldoret. Some expatriates approached by Arab News said the talks were a genuine breakthrough for a peaceful settlement to the country’s 11 years of anarchy.
Others insisted that the gathering would be as pointless as the previous ones. “I think that this meeting will be the last chance for the Somali people. We are tired of continuous violence and fighting,” Hassan Salad Dhore, a chemical engineer said. “The Western countries declared that they would support the outcome of these peace talks unlike the previous one in Djibouti. The United States has taken a greater interest in Somalia since the Sept. 11 attacks, viewing its anarchy as a potential haven for extremists. The organizers of the talks are optimistic about the outcome as many of the country’s main factions are now participating.” Muhammad Sheikh Abukar, a journalist, said that simply holding talks was meaningless unless new ways to deal with warlords are found. “The warlords are not in a position to agree on a national government. They rejected what they signed at the end of each previous gathering. This raises the need for international peacekeepers to disarm the militia groups.”
Abdullahi Rage Hussein, an executive of Hutu Sete group of companies, said that no genuine reconciliation could be achieved while Ethiopia spearheads Somalia’s peace process. “Ethiopia has undermined the efforts of the TNG to consolidate security throughout the country. Addis Ababa has supplied arms and ammunition to the warlords and has sent its troops to Somalia many times. It also publicly denied the legitimacy of the TNG, which was an outcome of Djibouti-sponsored peace talks. Now, Ethiopia is on the technical committee of the peace talks. So it’s easy to guess the outcome of the talks,” he said.