Region | Somalia
Somali Islamist leader rejects peace pact
A hardline Islamist leader on Tuesday rejected a UN-brokered peace deal between the government and some opposition figures, vowing that war would continue.
- Agencies
- Published: 14:33 June 10, 2008
Nairobi: A hardline Islamist leader on Tuesday rejected a UN-brokered peace deal between the government and some opposition figures, vowing that war would continue.
"We don't see that as a peace deal, we see it as a trap," Shaikh Hassan Dahir Aweys told Reuters.
"We encourage the insurgents and the Somali people not to be tired of combating the enemy," Aweys said.
Somalia's government and some members of the opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) signed a ceasefire deal in Djibouti late on Monday.
However, some senior members of ARS said they would not recognise the deal, which they said was unlikely to bring peace to Somalia after 18 years of civil conflict.
The sticking point is the presence of Ethiopian troops in Somalia, who are fighting with the government against Islamist-led insurgents.
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