Uganda: Ugandan envoy brokers peace in Somalia

(SomaliNet) In yet another bid to restore stability in the shattered Horn of Africa nation , a Ugandan envoy to Somalia on Friday said Kampala was brokering peace between the country\'s embattled government and its opponents.

Ongoma Ingine said he had already held talks with President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who supported the latest initiative, but was yet to meet the opposition groups including the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS).

\"We are facilitating negotiation between the Somali Transitional Federal government and those opposing the institution,\" Ingine told a press conference in Mogadishu.

\"The meditation effort will involve those who are fighting the government inside the country and opposition groups that are based in Asmara,\" the capital of neighbouring Eritrea, he explained.

The ARS members, who include Islamist militant ousted from south and central Somalia early this year by government fighters with Ethiopian military support, have vowed never to enter into dialogue until Addis Ababa withdraws its troops.

Islamist militants are waging a deadly insurgency in Mogadishu, a seaside capital that has been convulsed by near daily attacks that target government officials, Ethiopian troops and Ugandan peacekeepers, but in which dozens of civilians have been killed or wounded.

Uganda, which has deployed at least 1 500 peacekeepers to the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), has also pledged to help train a Somali police force.

Somalia has lacked an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre touched off a deadly clan-based power struggle that has defied numerous efforts to restore stability.-AFP