After the "new" New York Times reduced its size and content, I noticed that it is also picking up more wire reports.
Does that mean African beat reporter Jeffrey Gettleman is out of a job?
Just another step in the fall of the great paper.
And what made the Times decide after all these months to finally print a piece -- any piece -- on Somalia?
Why now, reader?
"Somali Peace Talks Finish as President Urges Elections"
MOGADISHU, Somalia, Aug. 30 (Reuters) — Somali reconciliation talks, seen as the best hope for peace in the war-racked nation, ended Thursday with the interim president urging insurgents and militias to swap the bullet for the ballot box.
[After they took over by force! Pffftttt!]
The six-week conference, intended to settle longstanding disputes among clans, produced upbeat resolutions but had no visible impact on a raging insurgency in Mogadishu.
President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed: “I’m puzzled by those who are still using guns to try to achieve anything. I wish them to prepare for elections and seek the support of the people through the ballot.”
[Oh, that's why!
The unusual and strange fascination with elections and politics.
As if that is the be-all and end-all of "news."]
The Somali government and 2,000 delegates, including African diplomats and representatives of all of Somalia’s main clans, agreed to points that included terms for a clan truce, the sharing of natural resources and elections planned for 2009.
Mr. Yusuf: “The government promises to take decisive action in implementing the agreements you reached.”
The talks took place at a heavily guarded former police compound, which became the target of several mortar attacks after talks began on July 15. With Islamists and other opponents boycotting the talks, and no letup in the daily violence, analysts see achieving peace as a tall order in a country awash with guns.
[Then how come we never get reports on it?]
Hours before the closing ceremony, insurgents attacked three police bases in Mogadishu, prompting the government to flood the city with security forces as foreign delegates arrived. Violence and anarchy have been the norm in Mogadishu since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991.
But clashes have worsened since December, when an alliance of Somali and Ethiopian troops pushed out the Islamist fighters controlling Mogadishu, setting off a deadly insurgency.
[That's right!
The Islamists (with the support of women and businesspeople) ejected the CIA's murderous, raping, thieving warlords.
The Islamists ended the violence and reopened the airport.
Six months later, Ethiopia invaded at the behest of the U.S. and installed the tremendously unpopular "interim" government.
And Ethiopian occupiers remain on Somali land.
Did the Times fill that in for you, or just repeat another conventional lie?]
During the talks, there was a surge in attacks by Islamist rebels, who have been joined by some factions of the city’s dominant Hawiye clan.
Exiled opponents of the transitional government, including Islamist leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, are to hold a rival “reconciliation conference” on Saturday in Eritrea, whose government has been accused of backing the Islamists.
Mohamed Hassan Had, chairman of an antigovernment faction of the Hawiye clan, urged Somalis to oppose the government, saying it did not represent the people.
Mr. Had: “The Somali peace conference was fruitless.”
Mr. Yusuf and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said all factions were invited to the reconciliation talks.
Abdullahi Sheik Elmi, who is also a member of the Hawiye clan, attended the meetings and said some Hawiye wanted to go mainstream:
“We plan to turn the Hawiye into a political party which will be open to other interested Somalis to join. Hawiye clan elders are opposed to the presence of Ethiopian troops in our country, but we still have to be engaged in peace.”
[Which is why USrael must bring war to places!]
