Somalia’s newly dominant Islamist movement announced on Sunday that it would organise a national forum to chart the lawless country’s future, further bypassing the weak government it threatens. At the same time, the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS) renewed vows to fight the deployment of a proposed east African peacekeeping forces, plans for which were finalised last week, saying foreign troops were “not welcome.” In a move decried by the largely powerless transitional administration, the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS) said it would soon host a “national reconciliation conference” to set a new course for the country.“We are inviting all the Somali people to attend a national reconciliation conference in Mogadishu,” SICS spokesman Abdurahim Ali Muddey told reporters in the capital, which the Islamists seized from warlords in June. He gave no date for the conference. “Somalis need to talk to each other and resolve their differences at home without foreign interference,” he said, sidestepping questions about whether the gathering was aimed at forming a government to rival the current one.
“The last solace for that administration is foreign military intervention that is not viable in Somalia,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “The Baidoa administration is a waste of time and resources,” he said.