BBC News
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VIDEO: Peston: China slowdown in 30 seconds (or less) September 25, 2015
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VIDEO: Tensions rise between Austria and Hungary September 25, 2015
The location of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's recent press conference is a sign of strain in the countries relationship with Austria
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VIDEO: Reporter at Hajj: 'My aunt is missing' September 25, 2015
A BBC Hausa Service correspondent who was at the scene of a deadly stampede near Mecca, says she has lost her aunt, and some members of her group are missing.
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VIDEO: Why did an Israeli model want a no-fly zone? September 25, 2015
Why did Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli want a no-fly zone over a hotel in northern Israel?
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VIDEO: Seattle: Students in fatal bus crash September 25, 2015
Four people are killed and 12 critically injured when an amphibious tour bus and a charter bus carrying foreign exchange college students collide on a bridge in Seattle.
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VIDEO: 'I lost my son when dinghy was hit' September 24, 2015
The BBC's Jim Muir talks to a migrant on Lesbos whose son is missing after their migrant dinghy was struck by a ship that migrants allege sailed on without stopping.
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VIDEO: The rooftop cattle farmer celebrating Eid September 24, 2015
Azadur Rahaman, and his brother, herd cattle on the rooftop of the building the live, in Dhaka.
– SOMALI REGIME IN AN ATTEMPT TO SPLIT INSURGENCY
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Somalia’s government has signed, on Monday 03/15/2010, a deal with a militia group Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca (ASWJ), to bring it on side before an expected military offensive against al-Shabab and other groups fighting to topple the administration.
Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca (ASWJ), which is made up of moderate Sufi Muslims, reached an agreement in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa on Monday to work together to battle al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam fighters (see – Ethiopian-Somali War).
Al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam have been fighting the western-backed transitional government since 2007. They control much of southern and central Somalia, while government troops control a few blocks of the capital, Mogadishu.
ASWJ’s spiritual leader, Sheikh Mahmoud Sheikh Hassan, said the groups would need financial support from the international community to integrate their administrative, leadership and military structures and fight al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam. “This is not a fight or struggle against people but against an ideology,” he said at the ceremony.
“The meaning of this agreement is to save the people of Somalia and the reputation of the Islamic faith.”
Somalia has a Sufi tradition going back more than five centuries. The country’s Sufis have been angered by the desecration of graves, the beheading of clerics, and bans on celebrating the birth of Prophet Muhammed imposed by the radical Wahhabism fighters.
Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, the Somali prime minister, said that under Monday’s deal, Ahlu Sunna would be given five, as yet undetermined, posts in the cabinet and would appoint deputy commanders of the military, the police and the intelligence services. “This agreement is a victory for peace and a crushing defeat for extremist groups,” he said.
Hizbul Islam said Ahlu Sunna would just lose support by joining a government which has little influence outside Mogadishu and is often criticized as being corrupt and divided.
In Dubai and also on Monday, Somali Islamist politicians, thinkers and scholars held a conference attended by Sheik Sharif Ahmed. The conference called on warring factions in Somalia to lay down arms immediately and start direct talks.
The attendees urged the anti-government fighters to join the government and parliament and leave the “nation’s [religious] scholars” to mediate and solve their country’s crisis.
A recent report released by the UN blamed Eritrea for supporting anti-government fighters in Somalia, but also described Somalia’s government forces as “corrupt, undisciplined and inefficient”.
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