NASSIR Posted February 25, 2005 Rebuild Somalia, president urges warlords Agencies Friday February 25, 2005 Somalia's president today urged the warlords and militias who have run the country for the last 14 years to put down their guns and work together to rebuild it. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed yesterday returned to Somalia for the first time since he was elected for a week-long visit to assess the country's security situation and speak directly to the electorate. His transitional federal government has functioned from neighbouring Kenya since it was formed in October. Thousands of residents lined the 10 miles of road between Jowhar and the airstrip and many more waited at the residence where the president was expected to stay, the IRIN news agency quoted a journalist based in the town as saying. Mr Yusuf told a crowd of thousands that his government was committed to relocating to the capital, Mogadishu. Guardian Unlimited BBC reporters offload a coffin carrying the body of their colleague Kate Peyton upon its arrival from Somalia at Wilson airport in Kenya's capital Nairobi, February 10, 2005. Kate Peyton, 39, a BBC producer was shot in the capital Mogadishu shortly after she arrived to report on the lawless Horn of Africa state where the new government is hoping to end years of militia violence. The Somali police boss investigating the murder has no force to patrol his perilous beat and no money to pay them even if he had. Somalia prime minister Mohamed Ali Ghedi speaks during a Reuters interview in Kenya's capital Nairobi, February 11, 2005. Ghedi said the high-profile murder of a BBC producer in Mogaishu will not deter Somalia's new government from returning to restore order and foil opportunists trying to prolong 14 years of chaos, and he added when his cabinet returns from Kenya where it was formed it would seek to disarm Somalia's militias by negotiating with their warlord bosses many whom serve in his cabinet. Members of the former army of Somalia listen to speeches from the Somali parliament, Friday, Feb. 4, 2005 during a visit to the former police and army college in Mogadishu, Somalia. After more than a decade of anarchy, thousands of Somalis cheered, clapped and waved flowers to welcome lawmakers who flew in from exile in neighboring Kenya to determine whether it was safe to return home. But before the week was out, shots were fired at the delegation and a foreign journalist was slain, raising doubts about the government's ability to reclaim Mogadishu from gunmen. The speaker of the Somali parliament, Shariif Hassan Sheikh Aden addresses students at the Ahmed Gurey school,on Feb. 9, 2005 in Mogadishu, Somalia. Members of the former army march as they wait for the arrival of the speaker of the Somali parliament, Shariif Hassan Sheikh Aden to the former police and army academy on Feb. 6, 2005 at a small airport in Mogadishu, Members of the Islamic courts listen to members of the Somali parliament, Saturday, Feb. 5, 2005 in Mogadishu, Somalia. A Somali girl cheers as members of the Somali parliament drive through Mogadishu, Somalia Saturday, Feb. 5, 2005. A gunman carries a flower in his gun barrel, on Feb. 5, 2005 in Mogadishu, Somalia. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
