Somali president vows lawless Mogadishu will be new government's home

[General Duke]

Somali president vows lawless Mogadishu will be new government's home

- Friday, February 25, 2005 at 15:59

 

 

JOWHAR, Somalia, (AFP) - Despite rampant insecurity and threats to resist peacekeepers in the Somali capital, Somalia's exiled transitional government will relocate to Mogadishu, President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed vowed.

 

On the second day of a brief fact-finding mission to his homeland -- his first since taking the helm of the government last year -- Yusuf also rejected opposition to the peacekeeping force, saying its deployment was certain.

 

Before leaving this town north of Mogadishu on Friday, Yusuf politely turned down offers from leaders in Jowhar and other municipalities to temporarily host his the government led by Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Gedi.

 

"The people of Jowhar have showed their willingness to host the Somali government as an interim seat before we move to Mogadishu," he told a reception of supporters.

 

"Other towns are also (offering) the same but the capital of Somalia is Mogadishu and we shall go there to thwart efforts of the minority of rejecting peace," Yusuf said.

 

On Thursday, the governor of Middle Shabelle province, where Jowhar is located, had offered the town as a temporary location for the government to sit.

 

Mogadishu has been awash in a sea of anarchic violence for 14 years since the 1991 ouster of Somali strongman Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 turned the Horn of Africa nation into a patchwork of fiefdoms ruled by violent warlords.

 

To get a foothold there, Gedi's government has requested and received authorization from the African Union (AU) for the deployment of regional peacekeepers.

 

But the proposed deployment has drawn vehement opposition from many Somalis, particularly hardline Islamic clerics in Mogadishu, who are opposed to the presence of any foreign troops in the country.

 

In recent weeks, there have been several deadly attacks -- the fatal shooting of a BBC journalist and a roadside bombing that narrowly missed a visiting AU delegation -- that analysts believe were warnings against outside intervention.

 

But Yusuf insisted that the peacekeepers -- initially from east African nations -- would be coming and said the government would not be deterred by "elements who are relentlessly fighting against" peace and the government.

 

"Definitely, foreign troops will be deployed to support the disarment and that is the only way to achieve lasting peace," Yusuf said.

 

Source: AFP

[General Duke]

A new start for Somalia?

Posted to the Web Feb 25, 11:07

 

 

Somalia:-Somalia seems to be heading towards a new chapter now that its interim leaders have arrived into the country from their exile base in Nairobi where the interim government is holding court. The peaceful reception received by the Speaker of the exiled parliament when he visited Mogadishu, the capital, last week has emboldened the new government elected in December to move into the country.

 

It is, however, hard to be optimistic about this war ravaged country, which in 16 years has not had a working government; but is run by war lords, religious men and big business. The sterling diplomatic effort of Kenyan negotiators managed to bring about a government of national unity which should take the country out of its anarchy into a new life of democracy and peace.

 

The AU has put into plans to deploy a peacekeeping force in the next few weeks to strengthen the new government. However, the involvement of traditional Somali enemies like Ethiopia has made many people in Mogadishu to express opposition to this force, which if not properly handled could end up being unable to end the instability. What happened to the US Marines in 1993 when they tried to enforce a ceasefire, and they were massacred and their bodies quartered and the parts dragged through the dirty streets of the capital, is still too fresh in the minds of even African politicians. The suggestion of a strong local police force to help keep order during the transition and not an international peace force should be given due consideration by the AU. If a peace keeping force risks inviting more trouble, as it is now, it should be reconsidered and replaced with a less controversial option.

 

Somalia remains the running sore on the continent, where all the depravities that usually characterise Africa: war, famine and disease are writ large. Peace in Somalia is therefore of utmost necessity.