The transitional federal government (TFG) of Somalia said that its hands are open to everyone willing to sit with them on the negotiation table, the information minister announced Tuesday.
Talking to local media via phone from Yemeni Capital Sanaa, the minister said that Somali government is inviting all warring sides to peace talks in a bid to end the long-running civil strife in Somalia.
“The Somali government is fully committed to creating peace and stability in this chaotic country, and by virtue of that we will negotiate with the Islamist rebels and anyone else who is against the policy of the Somali government” the minister stated.
“The Somali government is very sorry for the difficulties on our people who are always taking the brunt of all violence here in the country, and that is why we are always calling on the militants for peace talks” the Somali minister added during his teleconference from Yemeni capital Sanaa On Tuesday.
The peace call from the information minister comes as Somali deputy Prime Minister Prof Abdirahman Ibbi announced over the weekend that reconciliation talks between Somali government and the Hezbal Islam rebel group are under way.
However, the Alqaeda-allied Alshabab militants said they will never sit with the Somali government–accusing it of being western proxy.
The extremist groups have been fighting the Somali government for the past three years in a bid to topple it and instead implement Islamic law in Somalia, but analysts say that the kind of Islamic rule that militants want to form is like the Taliban Islamic system that ruled Afghanistan before the fall of Taliban late in 2001 in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks that rocked the United stated in that year.
