Somali transitional government and an opposition group on Friday appealed to their supporters to put aside their differences to facilitate unhindered humanitarian access to the war-torn country.
A statement from the Nairobi-based UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) said the transitional government and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia which were meeting in Djibouti said calm will allow the delivery of the necessary assistance to the people immediately.
"We, as Somali patriots, representing the Transitional Federal Government and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, aware of the continuously deteriorating human and humanitarian situation and determined to help our people through this difficult period, and call on our supporters and all Somalis to put aside their differences to facilitate unhindered humanitarian access and the delivery of assistance to the people with immediate effect," said a declaration adopted in Djibouti.
The declaration came as Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said the Djibouti talks were a waste of time and no tangible outcome can be expected.
The exiled former army colonel urged his allies from the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia attending the peace talks to walk out.
"I don't expect anything tangible to come out of the meeting. What two or three people have agreed upon in a short sitting cannot be of good to the public ... It's just a waste of time," Aweys reportedly said on Thursday.
Negotiations started at the weekend over Somalia's conflict.
The development also came as UN Security Council called on Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to continue contingency plans to deploy a possible UN peacekeeping operation in strife-torn Somalia and to relocate its political office from neighboring Kenya.
In a resolution adopted on Thursday, the UN Security Council members deplored the deteriorating humanitarian situation inside Somalia, which has not had a functioning national government since1991, and called on Ban and the international community to therefore intensify their efforts to promote political reconciliation in the country.
The UNPOS is currently based in Nairobi because of the security situation inside Somalia.
Source: Xinhua
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