Annan urges Somali parties to resume peace talks

The United Nations Secretary- General Kofi Annan on Wednesday appealed warring parties in Somalia to exercise restrain and resume stalled peace talks to find a lasting solution to the conflict in the unstable nation.

Speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations conference on climate change underway in Nairobi, Annan told the increasingly powerful Islamists who now control southern and central Somalia and the Somali transitional federal government that only dialogue could end the crisis facing the Horn of African nation.

"We have a very serious situation in Somalia. First of all, I would like to appeal to the Somalis to try and put their differences together and continue the talks which began in Khartoum and honor the Khartoum I and Khartoum II agreements and that talks which are now suspended should resume very quickly," Annan told journalists in Nairobi.

"I also urge the two groups, the transitional government and the Islamic Courts, to avoid further confrontation and military action. The people of Somalia have suffered for a long time. It's a country that has been in crisis for well over 15 years and can be described as a failed state," the UN chief said.

Annan, who arrived in Kenya late Tuesday for a two-day visit, also urged neighboring countries which have been interfering in the lawless nation to stop their military activities and the rest of the international community to play their part in helping restore stability to Somalia.

Somalia has been riven by factional fighting and has not had a functioning national government since Muhammad Siad Barre's regime was toppled in 1991.

Source: Xinhua