U.N. Chief Urges Somali Leaders to Talk, Save Peace Plan

U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali appealed to Somali factions Wednesday not to let a peace plan for their ruined nation unravel by abandoning negotiations in Addis Ababa, delegates said.

Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi also summoned Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid for talks, pressuring him to drop objections to a guest list for national reconciliation talks or risk being blamed for the breakdown of peace efforts.

Delegates at nine days of preparatory talks in the Ethiopian capital said earlier that the session had effectively collapsed with Aidid still recalcitrant.

Leaders of the 15 factions involved were expected to fly back to Somalia by the weekend. They had been scheduled to return last week but have put off several deadlines for the end of talks and stayed in Addis Ababa.

Their negotiations have become as chaotic and acrimonious as the nation they are supposed to rebuild, but Somalis complain that their U.N. and Ethiopian hosts are trying to rush them into an accord they are not ready to adopt.

There was no sign that the United Nations or Meles would persuade Aidid to agree to attend the March 15 reconciliation talks on an equal footing with his rivals, delegates said.

Aidid demands a special status to reflect his part in the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. His rivals say his stand masks a ruthless desire to be president.