Somali Opposition Hopes Peace Deal Includes Ethiopian Withdrawal

The leader of Somalia's opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) has said he hopes a final peace agreement with the country's interim government will provide for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops and a nationwide ceasefire. Speaking Tuesday in Yemen, ARS chairman Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said government and opposition delegates would meet next week in Djibouti to continue with discussions towards a final peace accord. Some key Islamist groups have refused to participate in the peace talks, preferring instead to continue with an Iraq style insurgency that they hope will eventually depose the interim government and rout its Ethiopian backers from Somalia.[PE]