Somali Faction Leaders Agree To Peace Talks

It is not the first time Somali faction leaders have agreed to stop fighting and talk peace.

But after six years of famine, civil war and a U.S. military intervention, a pledge this week by rival faction leaders to hold their fire may actually help bring the country closer to reconciliation.

Faction leaders continued work Wednesday on a cease-fire agreement that also calls for an end to the propaganda war and, ultimately, direct talks.

“The Somali people are tired of war. This is the feeling of the grassroots. The people want peace,” said Mohammed Addo, an aide to faction leader Ali Mahdi Mohamed.

In south Mogadishu, a small group of residents, trapped for months by fighting inside a neighborhood known as Medina, took to the streets Wednesday in support of the cease-fire, which is to take effect at midnight today.