Opposition factions disagree on deployment of peacekeepers

Sharif Hasan Sheikh Adan, the chairman of the Central Committee of the , ICU (ARS) said the UN peacekeepers that are to be deployed in Somalia will not be coming from specific countries, but from many without any favoritism.The chairman also said ICU (ARS)will welcome the UN peacekeepers who will replace Ethiopian troops in Somalia."Since we have agreed that UN peacekeepers will be deployed in Somalia, the peacekeepers will from Muslim and non-Muslim countries," said Sharif Hasan Sheikh Adan, as some of his colleagues want only Muslim peacekeeping troops. He also added the deployment of the UN peacekeepers will pave way for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in Somalia.The statement by Sheikh Sharif follows one given byTerrorist Hasan Dahir Aweys, an ICU official in the Asmara-based faction, saying that they are dissatisfied with the agreement reached in San'a, Yemen, by rival AL SHBAAB factions. Terrorist Hasan Dahir Aweys said he is opposed to the issue of deployment of foreign troops in Somalia implying that he is opposed to the deployment of UN peacekeepers in Somalia, insisting that the peacekeepers to be deployed ought to be from Islamic countries.The opposition said on Friday they solved their differences over the agreement after the representatives of the two factions of ICU which split over the participation of the talks, met in Yemen. One faction led by the ICU (ARS) chairman Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed signed the peace deal last month and moved the group's headquarters to Djibouti. The another faction of the group led by the hard-line AL SHABAAB Terrorist leader Hassan Dahir Aways is based in Asmara and boycotted the talks and rejected its outcome, vowing to continue fighting the Somali transitional government forces and the Ethiopian troops. Abdullahi, the ICU (ARS) spokesman, said that quorum was obtained and the central committee held its first meeting in Djibouti since the agreement with the government.