U.N. Chief Ends Somali Mission Empty-Handed

U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali returned from his African peace mission empty-handed Saturday, saying he left his envoy, James Jonah, behind to work for national reconciliation in Somalia.

Boutros-Ghali arrived in Cairo after visiting Djibouti, Mauritius, Mozambique, Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, where he held talks in Addis Ababa with African leaders to try and broker a settlement for the conflict in Somalia.

The U.N. chief avoided questions about the prospects of national reconciliation in Somalia.

“I left the special envoy Mr. James Jonah in Addis Ababa. He will hold contacts with the Somali leaders, factions and groups, as well as with Ethiopian and Djibouti leaders, for more consultations,” Boutros-Ghali told a news conference in Cairo.

He said he had asked the Security Council for a two-week delay to submit a report on prospects of reconciliation in Somalia, with the hope that “the vision would clarify by then and new proposals for finding a settlement would be presented.”

Boutros-Ghali said he would prepare certain “arrangements and measures” that would be taken after the withdrawal of some peacekeeping troops.

Boutros-Ghali said he had “useful” talks Saturday with Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi in Addis Ababa in which they discussed a political solution in Somalia. But an Ethiopian official said they did not agree.

“There existed a conceptual difference between the position of Ethiopia and that of Secretary General Boutros-Ghali on the Somali reconciliation,” said Tekeda Alemu, Ethiopian deputy minister for foreign affairs.

Tekeda did not elaborate on the dispute but said if the aim is to conduct a successful reconciliation and bring peace in Somalia, no group should be excluded from that process.

Boutros-Ghali wants to arrange a peace conference that excludes Mohammed Farah Aidid, the man the United Nations holds responsible for killing 24 Pakistani troops in an ambush in Mogadishu on June 5.