Somalia peace talks to get underway in Djibouti: UN

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

NAIROBI (AFP) — Somali government officials and exiled Islamist opposition leaders are to hold face-to-face peace talks in Djibouti, the United Nations special envoy to the country said Friday.

Ahmed Ould Abdallah said the UN-sponsored talks will start on Saturday, sitting seven members of Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein's transitional executive at the same table as seven opposition figures, mainly Islamists.

Somalia has been wracked by conflict since 1991, with the capital Mogadishu plagued with political and civil unrest, food riots, and attacks on Western aid agencies.

The closed-doors discussions are expected to last up to a week, with Ould Abdallah expressing optimism after two failed peace conferences in 2007.

"You make peace in the first...