Posted on 01/10/2007 1:59:35 AM PST by Cementjungle
Interim leader rejects U.S. approach in Somalia
NAIROBI, Kenya, 8 Jan. 2007- In a rebuff to the United States, Somalia's interim president, Abdullahi Yusuf, on Monday rejected U.S. requests to bring moderate Islamists into his weak transitional government.
Negotiations with Islamists "will not happen," he told Al Jazeera television before flying to Mogadishu, Somalia's lawless seaside capital. "We will crack down on the terrorists in any place around the nation."
Yusuf had indicated the opposite position in meetings in the Kenyan capital over the weekend with assistant U.S. Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, U.S. officials said.
There was no immediate reaction from U.S. officials, but Yusuf's remarks underscored the difficulties that Western governments face as they try to shore up Somalia's fragile regime after Ethiopian troops ousted Somalia's popular Islamist rulers last month.
Frazer, the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, had said late Sunday in Nairobi that Yusuf's government, which was formed by an international conference in 2004 and has never controlled Mogadishu, needed to bring moderate Islamists into the regime.
"I support reaching out to the . . . Islamic Courts," Frazer said. "We see a role in the future of Somalia for all who renounce violence and extremism."
(Excerpt) Read more at awdalnews.com ...
Negotiations with Islamists "will not happen," he told Al Jazeera television before flying to Mogadishu, Somalia's lawless seaside capital. "We will crack down on the terrorists in any place around the nation."
He gets it - - Moderate Islamist = out of bullets.
Now, if Somalia could export that idea... maybe there will be some real progress in the war on terror.
SOMEBODY FINALLY GETS IT ping...
Can we get the State Department declared a "Terrorist-Enabling Organization?"
Sheeeessshhhhh!!
Gotta love our State Department, always trying to make sure our enemies have a seat in the table. How inclusive of them.
Now, if we could bring this guy to a widely publicized Congressional hearing...
Wow... ironically, someone who is perhaps less wealthy or not wealthy at all, less educated and informed is much more aware that there is no such thing as Moderate Islamists... Indeed, there is no such thing!
Oops, I meant a seat AT the table.
WTG! About time someone woke up!
Good for him.
"Somalia's interim president, Abdullahi Yusuf, on Monday rejected U.S. requests to bring moderate Islamists into his weak transitional government."
GOOD FOR HIM !!!!!!
Is not this State Department run by Rice/Bush? There are more things to "get" here than, you cannot deal with the Islamists.
We have seen the enemy, and it is...the US State Department!
I like this guy's way of thinking. You are now entering a NO MOOSLIME zone!
Jendayi Fraser has been riding on Condi Rice's coat-tails from Stanford to NSC to State. That Condi sure can pick 'em...(she) must be Presidential material now that she has interned at State...(sarc)
FYI: Jendayi E. Frazer
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs
Term of Appointment: 09/29/2005 to present
Jendayi E. Frazer was sworn in as Assistant Secretary for African Affairs on August 29, 2005. Prior to her current assignment, Dr. Frazer served as U.S. Ambassador to South Africa. Immediately before her ambassadorship, Dr. Frazer served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of African Affairs at the National Security Council. Prior to joining the George W. Bush Administration, Dr. Frazer taught public policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Dr. Frazer brought practical experience to that position, having worked as a political-military planer with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and as Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council, during her time as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow.
Dr. Frazer earned her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees at Stanford University. Her doctoral dissertation examined Kenya's civilian-military relationship. Security issues remain of interest to Dr. Frazer, who regularly speaks to military audiences and about military-related issues in Africa. Released on November 10, 2005
Add Somalia to the list of countries that "get it." Now there are three: Australia, Ethiopia and Somalia.
Right on - you have got it!!
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