By NNN-KUNA,
Cairo : The Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS) has asked for Arab troops to have substantial participation in any UN peacekeeping forces to enter Somalia to replace Ethiopian troops there.
Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs at the Arab League, Ambassador Ahmad Bin Hilli told reporters here Wednesday that the Somali opposition delegation wanted Arab states to play a role, either individually or through the United Nations.
He pointed out that the delegation sought humanitarian aid in light of the fact that 1.5 million Somali immigrants were suffering from starvation, natural disasters and wars, and were in dire need of urgent Arab support.
Bin Hilli stressed that the Somali issue would be on the agenda of the next session of the Council of Arab Foreign Ministers on Sept 10-11.
For his part, ARS delegation leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmad said that the delegation briefed the League’s officials on the Djibouti agreement and the current situation faced by the Somali people, as well as the role required from the League in that regard.
On how to implement the Djibouti agreement, Ahmad said that implementing the accord needed steps to be taken and for the Arab League to play an active role in bringing peace in Somalia and restore security and stability to it.
The Djibouti agreement, signed last June, stipulated that a ceasefire should come into effect throughout Somalia 30 days after its signing, but almost daily violence in the war-torn Horn of African nation continues.
Under the agreement, Ethiopian troops in Somalia, who crossed into the country in late 2006 to help Somali government forces oust an Islamist administration in south and central Somalia, would withdraw within 120 days after the deployment of a” sufficient number” of UN peacekeeping forces.