by Abdurrahman Warsameh
July 09, 2008
The two sides, in a UN mediated peace talks in Djibouti last month, agreed on a ceasefire that should come into force throughout Somalia Wednesday, which is 30 days from the signing of the agreement.
But since the agreement was signed back in June, the mechanism needed for its implementation and the confidence building measures spelled out in the agreement which are necessary elements for its full enforcement on the ground have never been carried out, says Farah Jumale, a political commentator in Mogadishu.
"Some sides in the talks have good intentions, particularly the host country Djibouti and the United Nations, which was mediating the talks, but the parties to the talks were even farther apart when the talks ended than when it started," Jumale told Xinhua.
He said the call in the agreement for both sides to "refrain from declarations and actions inconsistent with the peaceful spirit" of the agreement, was never respected.
Under the agreement two committees -- a Joint Security Committee "to follow up the implementation of security arrangements" and a High Level Committee, chaired by the UN, "to follow up on issues relating to the political cooperation between the parties and concerns over justice and reconciliation" -- should have been formed both within 15 days of the signing of the agreement.
But no word has been heard of the formation of the two committees which should theoretically help build confidence and trust between the two sides and pave way for implementation of the agreement.
Since the agreement was signed, the near daily clashes between the two sides continued unabated, if not further exacerbated.
According to conservative estimates, nearly 200 people, most of them civilians, were killed and almost 500 others were wounded in clashes involving the Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian troops and insurgent fighters. Hundreds more have been forced out of their homes.
Not all opposition groups agree to the ceasefire agreement, as a hardline faction of the ARS and the Al-Shabaab military group boycotted the Djibouti talks and rejected the agreement reached.
The two groups and the armed wing of the ARS faction which signed the agreement continued their attacks on the Ethiopian troops and Somali government forces.
The insurgents vowed not to stop fighting as long as Ethiopian troops are on Somali soil while the transitional government and their Ethiopian allies say they reserve the right of self-defense and retaliation if their are attacked.
"Their diametrically opposing stances show the two sides are stuck in their pre-agreement positions which breeds mistrust and further antagonism leading to continued confrontation," says Kamaal Barise, a Somalia affairs analyst.
The agreement thus cannot be more than "ink on paper" if the preliminary steps of trust building are never followed through and concrete measures not taken for its scope to be broadened to include those outside it, Barise contends.
Source: Xinhua, July 09, 2008