The UN Security Council on Wednesday warned Somalia's neighbours against interfering in its affairs and threatened sanctions against violators of a UN arms embargo on the African country.
The council also urged the Islamists ruling the city of Mogadishu to join Somalia's transitional government at talks in Sudan, where they could air their differences and try to resolve them, said Ghanaian UN Ambassador Nana Effah-Apenteng, the council president for August.
The talks in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, brokered by the Arab League, were put on hold on Tuesday when the Islamists asked for a two-week delay.
The Islamists, who control Mogadishu and a swathe of southern Somalia through Sharia courts backed by disciplined militias, have vowed to spread Islamic law across the Horn of Africa country of 10 million people. The Islamists accuse the UN-backed government led by President Abdullahi Yusuf of being a puppet of Ethiopia and say this is demonstrated by the presence of Ethiopian troops in Baidoa, where the government is based.
Ethiopia this week called charges that it has troops in Somalia "an outrageous fabrication."
Francois Lonseny Fall, the UN special envoy for Somalia, said on Wednesday the United Nations did not know for sure whether Ethiopian troops were in Somalia.
There were too few UN staff in the country to check for the presence of Ethiopian soldiers, Fall told reporters in New York after briefing the 15-nation Security Council.
Comments
Comments are closed.