Talks between the Somali Interim government and the opposition scheduled to take place yesterday in Djibouti were postponed for a day or two. Meanwhile UN Security Council members are expected in Djibouti to encourage Somalis. The Somali president and leaders of the opposition will be in Djibouti as well to meet with the UNSC members. Some analysts say this will be a boost for the talks.
Said Samatar is a professor at Rutgers University, New Jersey
For his assessment of the political climate in Somalia VOA’s Akwei Thompson spoke to him at his home in New Jersey.
First, Samatar attributed the stalled peace talks to the irresponsibility of both the government and the opposition. He said they are continuing the fight without regard to the suffering of the Somali people.
“After seventeen years of anarchy and lawlessness the Somalis or those who claim to speak for the Somalis today, both on the part of the so-called government and so called opposition are simply irresponsible, they just want to fight on…”
Samatar said until the people involved are ready for peace, there will be no peace in Somalia. He said it’s about time that both the transitional government and the opposition recognize that there’s nothing else left in Somalia to fight for.
"My aspiration for Somalia is that finally, the so called leaders…will recognize that there’s not much left to fight for in Somalia, the country is desperately poor, the people are suffering.” “ What are they fighting over?” he asked.