Is There a Shabaabi Cease Fire being Discussed?

Somalia has a "window of opportunity'' to end its 17-year civil war and needs help from the international community to enforce a cease-fire agreed upon last month, said Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein.

Islamists from the al-Shabaab militia rejected last month's Asamara agreement and continued attacks on the Ethiopian and Somali Federal troops.

Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein said that he hoped the preliminary cease-fire agreement will be concluded "very soon'' at a meeting in Saudi Arabia. He didn't elaborate.

Under terms of the Asamara agreement agreement, militias loyal to the transitional government and the ARS are to stop fighting within 30 days of the truce becoming final.

Ethiopian forces that helped oust the Islamic Courts Union government from Mogadishu are then to withdraw within four months and be replaced by a UN peacekeeping force.

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To contact the reporter on this story: Jason McLure in Addis Ababa via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.