NAIROBI (AFP) — Somali government officials and exiled Islamist opposition leaders are to hold face-to-face peace talks in Djibouti, the United Nations special envoy to the country said Friday.

Ahmed Ould Abdallah said the UN-sponsored talks will start on Saturday, sitting seven members of Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein’s transitional executive at the same table as seven opposition figures, mainly Islamists. More on Somalia peace talks to get underway in Djibouti: UN