Mogadishu, July 11: Leaders of Somalia’s two anti-government movements have held talks to unite their forces against the government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
The al-Shabab fighters’ leader, Abdi Mohamud Godane, also known as ‘Abu Zubeir,’ met for talks with Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the head of the Hizb al-Islam fighters in the capital Mogadishu on Friday.
“The two leaders… met yesterday and discussed a broad unity agreement in order to launch a big offensive against the African invaders and their apostate government,” AFP quoted an unnamed senior al-Shabab official as saying.
Al-Shabab– which is the military wing of the Council of Islamic Courts– and the opposition political movement Hizb al-Islam have been fighting government troops in and around Mogadishu since 2006.
The two groups, which control much of the lawless Horn of Africa nation, have been at odds recently over turf claims.
This comes after the Somali president urged regional powers to step up the fight against the growing number of fighters in his country.
Senior al-Shabab and Hizb al-Islam officials have confirmed their leaders’ meeting and declared their intention to launch a major offensive against the African Union peacekeepers and government forces in the coming days.
The groups’ reaction comes after the East African regional meeting responded to Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed’s pleas for assistance by announcing a decision to dispatch 2,000 extra troops to the violence-wracked country.
The Somali president had pleaded for international backup in an attempt to help restore stability to his country during an extraordinary session of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The pledged 2,000 peacekeepers are being sent as backup to about 6,000 others from Burundi and Uganda, who are already in Mogadishu.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since Mohamed Siad Barre’s junta rule was overthrown in 1991.
——–Agencies