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07 January 2007
SANAA (AFP) - A delegation from Somalia's routed Islamist movement was in Yemen as top US Africa envoy Jendayi Frazer held talks with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on the situation in the lawless east African nation.
A delegation from the Islamic Courts Union is currently in Sanaa for discussions aimed at starting a dialogue with the Somali transitional government, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kurbi told AFP.
He did not give details, but a Yemeni government source said that a top Islamic courts foreign affairs official, Sheikh Ibrahim Hassan Adow, was in Sanaa at the head of a team from the Islamist movement which was routed by Ethiopian forces and Somali government troops last month.
The Islamists are in Sanaa for talks with the Yemeni government aimed at exploring the possibility of starting a dialogue with the transitional government in Mogadishu as part of Yemeni efforts to promote reconciliation in Somalia, the source told AFP, requesting anonymity.
"Yemen supports all efforts to achieve security and stability in Somalia, including the dispatch of African peacekeepers ... and helping the Somali parties reach an inclusive and lasting reconciliation," he said.
The Islamists' grip on power in Somalia ended in 10 days of heavy artillery battles and air attacks last month after Ethiopia threw its military weight behind Somalia's transitional government.
Somali government forces and Ethiopian troops have since been tracking down the Islamists, whom the United States accuses of having links with Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, with US naval forces joining the hunt.
Frazer, fresh from an international meeting on Somalia held in Nairobi Friday, met with Saleh in the southern port city of Aden to brief him on "the efforts exerted by the United States to enhance security and stability in Somalia and achieve lasting Somali reconciliation," according to the Yemeni Saba news agency.
Saba said Saleh renewed his government's support for all measures aimed at boosting security in the Horn of Africa nation.
The US diplomat said during Friday's meeting that the Somali government should "reach out very broadly (to) include moderate elements of the Islamic Courts Union."
Source: AFP