NAIROBI — The African Union special envoy to Somalia Jerry Rawlings said Wednesday that talks with Islamist Shebab insurgents should remain an option, even as regional armies push forward against the rebels.

“These militants have a force of conviction, even as we do combat… let’s also create an opening for them to come on board politically,” the former Ghanaian president told reporters in the Kenyan capital.

“All doors must not be shut for them,” Rawlings added.

The Al-Qaeda linked Shebab are now battling Kenyan forces in the south, Ugandan and Burundian African Union forces in Mogadishu, and face Ethiopian troops in the west, which reports say have also entered from the west.

But Rawlings added that the humanitarian crisis in Somalia is a major concern, with the UN warning nearly 250,000 people face imminent starvation.

Although the UN last week downgraded the number of famine zones by half, reclassifying three regions at emergency levels, the humanitarian crisis in central and southern Somalia remains the worst in the world.

“Even if the children are not looking as bony and miserable as they were before, the humanitarian plight is not over, organisations should continue to offer humanitarian aid until the situation is stable,” he said.

Somalia’s neighbours have recently renewed efforts to restore stability there after two decades of chaos, with Nairobi last week saying it was willing to deploy troops for the African Union force protecting the Somali government.

Addis Ababa has however denied that it deployed forces to the neighbouring state.

Ethiopia pulled out its soldiers from Somalia in 2009 after a two-year invasion that defeated an Islamist movement, but the group’s military wing, the Shebab, regrouped to battle the troops and have waged a bloody war since.

Ugandan and Burundian soldiers making up the 9,700-strong AU force have been battling the Shebab in the capital Mogadishu since deploying in 2007.

Ethiopia has said the decision on whether it will send troops to Somalia will be taken Friday at a heads of state meeting in Addis Ababa of the regional body, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development.

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AFP

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