Somali factions sign peace deal

Somalia's government has signed a peace deal with an opposition bloc aimed at ending 17 years of conflict in the country, the UN envoy to Somalia says. Ahmedou Ould Abdallah said the government and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia agreed to cease hostilities for three months.

The deal brokered at UN-led talks in Djibouti, also envisages that Ethiopian troops leave Somalia within 120 days. But some opposition hardliners and Somali rebels have dismissed the talks.
The deal does not include many of the armed Somali groups at present fighting the transitional

government and the Ethiopian troops backing it. Correspondents say it is not clear if it will have any impact on the clashes which are still killing dozens of people every week.

At least 28 people were killed during clashes between Islamist insurgents and Ethiopian troops backing the Somali government over the weekend. On Saturday, BBC Somali service reporter Nasteh Dahir was killed by suspected Islamists in the southern port of Kismayo.

UN peacekeepers

The deal was reached after the Somali government team and members of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia held their first face-to-face talks in neighbouring Djibouti, Mr Ould Abdallah told the BBC. "It took eight days to attend workshops, to live in the same hotel, but avoiding each other. Finally they met...

Confidence resumed slowly, and we have to support and nurture that renewed confidence," he said. "The cessation of armed confrontations shall come into force 30 days from the signing of this agreement throughout the national territory," the text of the deal said, according to the AFP news agency.

The agreement covers an initial period of 90 days after which it will be renewed. It also envisages that Ethiopian troops will withdraw from Somalia within 120 days, once a UN peacekeeping force is deployed.

Some 2,200 African Union troops are in Mogadishu, but have done little to quell the violence which has triggered a humanitarian crisis that aid workers say may be the worst in Africa. The talks in Djibouti were the latest attempt to negotiate an end to the anarchy in Somalia.

It is estimated that the conflict has created more than one million refugees. Somalia has experienced almost constant civil conflict since the collapse of Mohamed Siad Barre's regime in January 1991.