Hardline Islamist cautions Saudis over Somali truce

Monday, June 23, 2008

NAIROBI (AFP) — A hardline Somali Islamist leader accused of ties with Al-Qaeda on Monday chided Saudi Arabia for backing a UN-sponsored Somali truce he charged was a plot to attract the oil-rich kingdom's cash.

"We love the Saudis, but we want them to be wary of some tricky issues that are not realistic at all," Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, an influential cleric designated as a terrorist by Washington, told AFP in a phone interview.

Saudi King Abdullah last week described as a "breakthrough" an agreement signed at UN-sponsored talks in Djibouti on June 9 by the transitional federal government and the main opposition alliance.

The deal provides for a cessation of hostilities to come into force within a month but Aweys promptly rejected the document signed by his own movement's leaders, arguing that it failed to impose an immediate Ethiopian withdrawal.

"The Saudis should only involve themselves in a genuine reconciliation process that will bring lasting peace and end the occupation of Muslim Somalia," he said.

"The so-called agreement in Djibouti only legitimised Ethiopian occupation of Somalia and the continued destruction of lives and property," he added.

Ethiopian troops came to the rescue of the embattled interim government in Somalia in late 2006 and ousted the Islamic Courts Union, which was headed by Aweys and briefly controlled large parts of the country.

"The Saudis have no ill-intention against Somalia, but are being misinformed on the flawed process initiated in Djibouti. The whole idea is to extort money from the coffers of unsuspecting Saudi leaders," Aweys argued.

"The Saudis are honest people who are being approached by dubious Somali characters," he added, speaking from Asmara, where his Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) has been based since its inception in September 2007.

Aweys, who is not a member of the ARS top leadership, remains in Eritrea with other hardliners but the movement's top executives and signatories of the June 9 deal are now in Djibouti and Somalia.

"The whole purpose was to divide the ARS and strengthen the enemy of our nation, unfortunately some of our members were trapped by those who wanted to deepen the division," Aweys railed.

Source: AFP, June 23, 2008