EU meets to push for peace process in Somalia

BRUSSELS, Jan 3: European countries met in Brussels today to push for a revival of the peace process in Somalia, as Ethiopian warplanes backing the Somali government pursued fleeing Islamists near the border with Kenya.

The Islamists, who withdrew from their last stronghold on Monday after two weeks of war, rejected a government amnesty offer after disappearing into the hills and vowing to fight on.

''We are keen to see an inclusive political process in Somalia ... without that it will be difficult to achieve security,'' Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told Reuters before the meeting.

''It would be a missed opportunity to say that every category of people calling themselves Islamists should be excluded,'' Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told Reuters.

Both ministers said they would call for Ethiopian troops to leave the country quickly but without leaving a security vacuum, and would discuss a possible international peace-keeping force.

Germany, which took over the EU's rotating presidency on January 1, called the meeting of European members of the International Contact Group on Somalia to ''coordinate European efforts to contribute to the peace and reconciliation process,'' it said in a statement.

The European members of the Contact Group are the EU presidency, Sweden, Britain, Italy, the EU's executive Commission and non-EU member Norway.

''It's an exchange of information, an evaluation of the situation to see what Europe should do in Somalia, if something needs to be readapted,'' a diplomat from the German EU presidency told Reuters.

The diplomat declined to say what action the 27-nation EU or the International Contact Group -- which also comprises the United States and Tanzania -- could take. The full contact group is to meet on Friday in Nairobi at working-group level, the Norwegian and Swedish ministers said.

They also said they would discuss increasing humanitarian aid to Somalia.

Ethiopian planes, tanks and troops helped the Somali government drive the Islamists from Mogadishu last week, after breaking out of its provincial outpost Baidoa to end six months of Islamist rule across much of southern Somalia.

REUTERS

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