Gunmen being hired to fill security void in Somalia

[Jacaylbaro]

Gunmen in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, are being hired for €1.50 a day as vigilantes to help quell growing unrest that has killed at least 25 people in the past two weeks, businessmen and residents said today.

The United Nations warned rising violence and a power vacuum caused by the ousting of Islamic forces by the transitional government backed by Ethiopia could lead to renewed anarchy and chaos that plagued Somalia for 16 years.

 

In a monthly report published today, the UN also issued a caution about Somalia's infamous warlords, who have begun emerging in the capital.

 

In the past the warlords have posed a threat to humanitarian operations, demanding money to allow aid into the war-ravaged country.

 

The spiralling violence is also likely to undermine any attempts to deploy an African Union peacekeeping mission designed to protect the country's weak government and train a new army.

 

``The government has to take responsibility for security, before they get help from African peacekeepers,'' said Abdi Mo'ali Husein, a resident who organised their private security to cope with the worsening situation.

 

 

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