AU rules out direct talks with Somali Islamists

BANJUL - The African Union will not mediate directly with Islamists controlling a large swathe of Somalia despite its determination to restore peace and central authority to the country, a senior official said today.

The situation in Somalia, where tension is rising between the newly powerful Islamists and a weak but internationally recognised interim government, is one of the major concerns of a summit of the AU's 53 members this weekend in Gambia.

But Said Djinnit, the organisation's Peace and Security Commissioner, indicated its strategy would be based on throwing as much support as possible behind the government and not on dealing with the Islamic courts, who took the capital Mogadishu on June 5.

They now control a large part of central-southern Somalia and today said they would expand the authority of their sharia courts across the whole of the country -- a move likely to further augment tension with the government.

The interim government will be represented at the summit by President Abdullahi Yusuf but the Islamists appear not to have been invited.

Speaking on the fringes of an AU foreign ministers meeting ahead of the summit, Djinnit told reporters the new situation in Somalia presented both challenges and opportunities for the AU.

But asked about negotiations with the Islamists, Djinnit said: "We are not aware of any other side for the time being apart from the transitional federal institutions."

He did, however, suggest the interim government should negotiate with the Islamic courts. "It is up to the institutions of Somalia and the government to engage in dialogue with whichever parties are relevant to forging peace and reconciliation in the country," he said.

The government and the Islamists agreed at talks in Khartoum earlier this month to recognise each other and meet again on July 15 despite their mutual suspicions.

Asked if he thought tensions between the government and Islamists were dangerous for Somalia, Djinnit said: "Every situation has risks and threats but in every situation there are opportunities and we are working on the opportunities..."

"The time has come for concrete actions in support of the transitional federal institutions of Somalia and the Transitional Federal Government."

The Islamist successes after they ejected US-backed warlords from Mogadishu have alarmed Washington, which believes the courts harbour al Qaeda-linked extremists, and regional power Ethiopia which is close to President Yusuf and opposes an Islamic state on its border.

The Islamist leadership today also confirmed that Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a hardline cleric whom Washington has linked to al Qaeda, would be the overall leader of the Islamic courts organisation.

Somalia has been without central government since 1991, when the secular warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and carved up the capital and other areas into a series of anarchic private fiefdoms.

- REUTERS