Islamic Courts offer Somali talks
Fugitive leader says he will negotiate with government if Ethiopian troops leave.
“The Somalis are now more united that before proving that they are one nation against the Ethiopian invaders,” Aweys said.
“Somalia is a 100 per cent Islamic nation and Somalis do love Islam and like to deal with Islamists.”
Aweys, who told al Jazeera that he was in hiding “somewhere in Somalia”, accused Ethiopian troops and the forces of the Somali interim government of committing what he described as “genocide” against Somali civilians in Mogadishu.
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“The situation is Somalia has gone from bad to worse after the intervention of Ethiopian troops” Abed, Kumasi, Ghana |
Late on Friday, a mortar fired by Ethiopian-backed government troops landed on a camp for people whose homes have been destroyed in the fighting, witnesses said.
Hundreds of makeshift homes built of sticks and canvas burned to the ground.
The violence came soon after senior tribal leaders from the Hawai, Somalia‘s largest clan, declared war on Ethiopian troops and called on all Somalis to join them.
Eritrean support
On Friday, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the other main leader of the Islamic courts fighters, met with Isaias Afwerki, Eritrea‘s president, in Asmara, the Eritrean capital.
It was the first time an African leader has met with the group since it was driven out of Mogadishu.
Ahmed was seeking support from the Eritrean government, which has supported the Islamic courts in the past against Ethiopia.