ASMARA, ERITREA — Following a week of walkouts and heated arguments, an unlikely alliance of Somalian opposition groups found an ideological middle ground Friday, electing a moderate Islamist leader after agreeing to omit a reference to "jihad" from its charter.
But as it wrapped up nine days of talks in this Eritrean capital, the newly formed Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia also opted for a hard-line political strategy, essentially declaring war against Somalia's United Nations-recognized transitional government and the Ethiopian troops supporting it.
Alliance leaders pledged to unify insurgent groups in Somalia and called upon all citizens to join its armed resistance.
"It is a national duty as well as a religious obligation for all citizens," the group said Friday in a statement.
The alliance includes disparate factions of Somalis from around the world, including ousted lawmakers of the transitional government, Islamic sheiks and members of the diaspora now living in Europe. Also included in the alliance are Islamic fighters with the militant group the Shabab, which has claimed responsibility for many of the recent bombings and assassinations in Somalia.
On the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, some people expressed anxiety over the prospect of new fighting between the government and the alliance.
"We hope the international community will put pressure on these two groups to share the power," said Faruq Mokhtar, 30, a school principal. "Waging a war is not in the interest of civilians."
Somalia has been without a stable and functioning government since 1991. The transitional administration's forces, with help from Ethiopian troops, seized control of Mogadishu last December from the Islamic Courts Union, an alliance of religious and clan leaders. But after nine months of occupation by Ethiopian troops, Somalis are growing increasingly frustrated by the current leadership's inability to quell an Iraq-style insurgency that has killed hundreds and displaced nearly half a million people.
Conditions in the Horn of Africa nation are rapidly deteriorating. UNICEF warned this week that more than 13,000 malnourished children are at risk of starvation because aid groups cannot deliver enough food to the restive country.
Officials in the U.S. and Somalia condemned the new opposition front, saying it includes "terrorists and extremists."
