Amid worsening tensions in Somalia, Annan urges ‘maximum restraint’ from neighbours

Viewing the situation in war-torn Somalia with “increasing concern,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on both the Transitional Government and the Islamic Courts to live up to their commitments made during recent peace talks and urged the country’s neighbours to avoid exacerbating the situation, his spokesman said.

Asked about media reports that Ethiopian troops have captured a major town inside Somalia, Stephane Dujarric told the daily press briefing at UN Headquarters in New York that the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) said Ethiopia has denied that its troops are inside its neighbour’s territory.

He added that Mr. Annan calls on all of Somalia’s neighbours to exercise “maximum restraint,” respect the arms embargo imposed by the Security Council on the impoverished and drought-stricken east African nation, and to not take any action that could exacerbate tensions.

Mr. Dujarric said the Secretary-General is particularly concerned about the heightened tensions between the Transitional Federal Government, which is based in Baidoa, and the Union of Islamic Courts, which has control over the capital, Mogadishu.

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

The most recent round of talks – which have been held in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum – took place at the start of last month and another round has been scheduled for 30 October.