Prof. Caddow [Leicester Conference] [analysis]

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http://allafrica.com/stories/200704091391.html

Salim Lone
Leicester, UK

The leadership of the Islamic Courts Union is intact, and a number of them are still in Somalia battling Ethiopian occupation forces. But "we are not fighting in order to put ourselves back in power," said Prof Ibrahim Addou, its former Foreign Affairs Minister, who was also its Chief Negotiator. "Our goal is a broad-based government in which all contending forces committed to peace will be included."

Prof Addou also turned down the notion, as advanced at the weekend in Baidoa by US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, that a permanent ceasefire could be established "as quickly as possible" through political dialogue in Somalia. He said: "We welcome the call for dialogue, which was, and continues to be, the Courts approach, but it will need to be held outside Somalia, where all participants can negotiate without fear. It would also need to be conducted under the auspices of a neutral body, or a group of impartial nations, outside Somalia" he asserted.
Africa 2007

In an interview at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, where a high-level three-day Somali diaspora conference concluded yesterday, the professor said that the invasion and war waged by Ethiopia and the United States had radically altered the political dynamic in his country.

"Thanks be to God, the Islamic Courts' position is even better now than it was before, and the role our fighters are playing in the resistance will make it even more so in the future." Nevertheless, Prof Addou continued, the Islamic Courts would not seek to form the next sovereign government but would vie for its share of power within an inclusive, national coalition. And while the TFG had caused immense harm and suffering to Somalis, its members would not be automatically excluded. "All decisions will be taken on a case by case basis, the goal being national inclusiveness." On the national dialogue that Ms Frazer was talking about, Prof Addou said it could only take place if it was "preceded by a clear and fixed timetable of withdrawal of Ethiopian forces."

But in the meantime, "as we have seen at this Leicester conference, all Somalis have put aside their differences to wage a common, national front to regain our sovereignty." The principal task now facing Somalis is the eviction of the Ethiopian armed forces, and the massacres of hundreds of innocents in recent weeks have made all other issues secondary to this terrible reality of occupation." But the former minister also felt that there was widespread recognition that the TFG was completely incapable of managing Somalia even with the huge Ethiopian presence, as reflected in the Ethiopians' conducting direct negotiations with Somali clans and groups.

This recognition might convince the Ethiopians to see the enormity of their folly, he said. Prof Addou acknowledged the Islamic Courts made some mistakes, "but they were minor." More troubling were the actions of some hot-headed ICU members not approved by the leadership. The media exaggerated the actions, but it is true some cinemas were closed, property was burned and football matches disrupted. The banning of chat should have been a gradual, carefully organised process accompanied by education about its impact."

On the ICU's link with terrorism, Prof Addou said that not a single terrorist act had occurred under their rule, and that ICU was completely opposed to terror.

The Leicester "Somalia Diaspora Conference" attracted some of Somalia's senior-most politicians from a very wide spectrum of organisations.

Former Prime Ministers Ali Khalif Galayr and Mohammed Abdi Yusuf, from the Transitional National Government of the 2000-2004 period were there, as were numerous ministers from that period, as well as Baidoa parliamentarians who resigned in the last year. There were over 250 groups and activists from various the US, Canada and numerous European, African and Middles East countries.

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Towards the end it was Question time, a Pro Tigray lady asked

" Why didnt the ICU negotiate with the Somali government while they was in power, if they really cared about civilian death"

Caddow Replied

" During the Khartoum peace talks, whenever we reached an agreement, it quickly changes it's mind after it holds talks with the ethiopians, on the second meeting it even had a ethiopian advicer disguised to be a government offical.

The so called government officals were dictated and a lip-service to a country that benifts from the on-going anarchy & Mayhem, despite the gutless history of the officals in the government we would have definitly reached an agreement if it was a "somali" government, but sadly these mans were dictated to serve the interest of foreign countries