Faction leaders reaffirm opposition to transitional government

In a press statement issued in Nairobi on Tuesday, Mogadishu's three main faction leaders said they had resolved their differences and called for a new, broader based, national reconciliation process. Dismissing the National Reconciliation Conference (NRC) in Arta, Djibouti, which led to the formation of the Transitional National Government (TNG)in Somalia, as consisting of "remnants of the Siad Barre regime, religious extremists and Somali exiles", the three leaders said they wanted fresh talks inside Somalia. The press statement criticised the TNG, accusing it of fomenting civil war and stealing from the Somali people by printing billions of shillings of counterfeit currency. All three leaders, Hussein Mohamed Aidid, Muse Sudi Yalahow and Osman Hassan Ali Atto, had been invited to participate in the Arta conference but had refused. The faction leaders said earlier in the week that they had come for talks with Kenyan president Daniel Arap Moi. Moi is currently in Libya.