Somali envoy reveals Mogadishu peace plan

[General Duke]

Somali envoy reveals Mogadishu peace plan

 

GRAND PEACE PLAN: Mr Guleed speaks to Daily Monitor yesterday. Photo by W. w'Ouma

 

FRANK NYAKAIRU

KAMPALA

 

African Union peacekeeping forces and the Somali Transitional Federal Government have embarked on an ambitious six-month plan to restore peace in the capital Mogadishu, the Somali Charge d'Affairs to Uganda has revealed.

 

Ambassador Abdulkadir Farah Guleed told Daily Monitor in an interview yesterday that the plan includes deploying the African Union (AU) troops and three battalions of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces in the city, sea patrols, coast guards and a forceful disarmament drive.

 

"We have a grand plan at the end of which we shall see lasting peace in Mogadishu," he said. "The plan will include deploying three battalions in Mogadishu city alone, then ensuring that every single junction has a roadblock.

 

"We are also training coast guards to man the waters because the extremists mainly use the sea to smuggle arms and bomb-making materials."

Tight sea patrols are already boosted by the US Navy that has maintained heavy presence in the Indian Ocean. Mogadishu is a densely populated city with mostly dilapidated buildings and tin shacks where most of its two million people live.

 

Ambassador Guleed said 300 families will be relocated from the Sea Port, Mogadishu Airport and the former State House where President Abdullahi Yusuf and his federal government delegation will relocate in two months.

 

About 1,500 UPDF troops under the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia are stationed at Mogadishu as part of a multinational force of 8,000 troops. "With the help of the AU forces, we will embark on a house-to-house cordon and search operation to recover some of the guns in Mogadishu," Mr Guleed said The Ugandan troops have already faced three attacks since they deployed last week.