Somalia: Sudan's president will mediate today between Mogadishu's new Islamist rulers and Somalia's interim government in talks to head off a new war in the Horn of Africa nation.
Tensions have risen between the government and the Islamists since the latter defeated US-backed warlords on June 5th and went on to seize a strategic swathe of Somalia.
Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir is expected to lead talks in Khartoum, but the government said it would not meet the Islamists directly. "The government will not meet with the Islamic courts face-to-face but will agree after their meeting with the Sudanese president on when and where to hold talks inside Somalia," spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said.
The delegation will be headed by president Abdullahi Yusuf, joined by prime minister Mohamed Ali Gedi and parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, he said.
- (Reuters)