2007年VOA标准英语-US Presses for Somali Political Reconciliation

The United States Tuesday urged Somalia's transitional federal government to reach out as broadly as possible to clans² and other factions³ for the national reconciliation⁴ conference planned for mid-July. The transitional government's prime minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, met senior State Department officials in Washington Monday. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi looks at his destroyed house, 04 June 2007

Officials here say they're not trying to dictate⁵ who should be invited to the planned reconciliation conference, which has already been postponed⁶ three times this year.

But they say the transitional government should cast as wide a net as possible among the country's political factions, if the conference is to achieve its objective of establishing stable governance in Somalia for the first since 1991.

The comments came after senior State Department officials held talks Monday with transitional Prime Minister Gedi, who also had meetings at the White House and with members of Congress.

Potential international donors⁷ for Somali reconstruction⁸ and others have pressed for the reconciliation conference, which the interim⁹ administration had first intended to hold in April and which is now scheduled for mid-July.

An elderly Somali woman is carried by after she was injured in a roadside bomb attack, in Mogadishu, Somalia, 26 Jun 2007

Though government officials have attributed the delays to security and funding issues, news reports from Mogadishu have blamed clan¹ rivalries¹⁰ and demands by opposition¹¹ factions that Ethiopian troops, who intervened in Somalia late last year, leave before the conference is held.

At a news briefing, State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey avoided direct criticism of transitional authorities, but said it is important that the reconciliation process include all Somalis who are willing to participate peacefully in the building of democratic institutions:

"There should be the broadest possible discussion," he said.  "Certainly individuals committed to violence, individuals not willing to work in a democratic system, are not people who we would need to, or want to, see participate because there's no point in that. But in terms of the other elements of Somali society, we do want to see the net cast as broadly as possible. That's why we've been supportive of this reconciliation conference."

Ethiopian intervention¹² in Somalia on behalf of the United Nations-backed transitional government ousted¹³ the Islamic Courts movement, which included figures the United States accused of having ties with al-Qaida.

But recent months have seen a resurgence¹⁴ of attacks on government and Ethiopian troops, reportedly by remnants of the Islamic forces and militias¹⁵ drawn¹⁶ from the powerful Hawiye clan, which says it is being excluded from the political process.

A written statement from the State Department late Monday said U.S. officials expressed concern to Mr. Gedi about recent arrests in Mogadishu of prominent citizens and members of non-governmental organizations, as well as harassment¹⁷ of opposition figures and journalists.

It said the officials told the interim prime minister that efforts to undermine the dialogue process or the national reconciliation conference are unacceptable, and that Mr. Gedi was urged to arrange the immediate¹⁸ release of the detainees consistent with a general amnesty decree by interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.

Spokesman Casey also said the United States is continuing to work for the replacement¹⁹ of the Ethiopian troops in Somalia with those of an African Union force authorized²⁰ by the U.N. Security Council last year, but he acknowledged the process has not moved forward as quickly as hoped.