(BBC) — Peace talks on Somalia have broken up without any face-to-face discussions between the government and the main opposition alliance.
After four days meeting UN diplomats in Djibouti, the two sides agreed to attend further talks in two weeks time.
The opposition insists it will not engage in direct negotiations until the government agrees a timetable for Ethiopian Woyanne troops to leave Somalia.
The two sides did, however, issue a joint appeal to improve aid access.
Ethiopian Woyanne troops are in Somalia supporting a transitional government, but an insurgency has led hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.
The parties decided to meet again in Djibouti for further talks on 31 May.
The communique, announced by UN envoy to Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, called on all Somalis “to put aside their differences to facilitate unhindered humanitarian access and the delivery of assistance to the people with immediate effect.”
Mr Abdallah organised the peace talks, which started on Monday, between the government and the Asmara-based Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, which includes leaders of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).
The UIC ruled much of Somalia in 2006 before being ousted by Ethiopian Woyanne forces backed by Somali government troops, who have been struggling to exert their control over the country ever since.
Al-Shabab, the militant wing of the UIC, did not attend the talks.
The talks were held against a backdrop of daily clashes between Islamist insurgents and Ethiopian-backed Somali government troops.
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FORUM | 3 Comments
No talk until Meles forces are forced out of the country and slaughtered. Every single of them. A nasty death are waiting for ethiopian soldiers in Somalia and every single leader who is invovled in Somalia killing. Gabre or you name it. They will get it. They can hide now. But we will get them to in due time. Even if they live in the West. Many Somali children and women and innocent have died for a war that is unnecessary war and campaign to kill Somalis. We will allways remmeber the ethnic cleansing by the tigrai warlord Meles.
HAIL UIC HAIL Son of SOM, Hail East Africa.
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May 16th, 2008 at 7:07 PM
maybe 100 year later maybe next year maybe 2 weeks later i just know meles will pay heavy price sameday and his cru
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May 17th, 2008 at 3:55 AM
Ethiopia and Somalia – the only two countries – have lived for a long time without a government, fighting each other for survival because anarchy in both countries is the fact of life. Meles thinks Ethiopia has a government, but most Ethiopians, whose lands slashed and given to another country, whose gold transported and deposited in foreign banks, whose rights curved, whose identities changed, and whose daughters and sons are on a death list, think otherwise. Therefore, chaos, hopelessness, and anarchy rein the two countries. The two countries hope for a better government in the future; will they get what they wanted is another difficult question to answer.
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May 18th, 2008 at 10:40 AM