NAIROBI, 19 March 2005 — Somalia’s interim government remained deadlocked in a dispute over peacekeeping troops yesterday, after a contentious vote in the fledgling Parliament erupted into a bloody brawl.
A majority of parliamentarians on Thursday voted against President Abdullahi Yusuf’s call for peacekeepers from bordering states to help stabilize the country.
But Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi said the vote was flawed and must be held again, setting up a constitutional standoff.
Many Somalis, including influential warlords and militants, have promised to attack any troops from neighboring states — especially from traditional rival Ethiopia — if they deploy as part of a planned African Union peacekeeping force.
Yusuf, backed by Ethiopia, wants 7,500 AU and Arab League troops to help his government return home from Kenya, and has been adamant that border states be included.
Somali lawmakers came to blows after Thursday’s vote in the Parliament, currently based in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Television footage showed several MPs throwing metal chairs at each other, beating each other with walking sticks and others drenched in blood after being struck on the head.
The vote came as the east African regional IGAD mediation body began discussing the planned deployment of troops from Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Djibouti and Ethiopia under AU auspices.
Diplomats at the meeting said it appeared that IGAD, under pressure from donors paying for the deployment, would decide only to send Ugandan and Sudanese troops. The meeting was due to end late yesterday.
The president has so far kept silent on the deadlock, and Somali observers said his decision to accept or reject the vote would be a major test of his leadership.
His spokesman, Yusuf Ismail Baribari, said the president held meetings yesterday and would make his position known shortly.
Somali politicians say there are rumors that Yusuf, through the prime minister, would fire ministers that opposed the plan.
That could provoke political violence, since a number of those rumored to be targeted are powerful warlords from Mogadishu who spearheaded the opposition to border states troops. In a letter to Gedi made public yesterday, Parliament’s speaker, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, said that of 217 present, 156 voted against the presence of troops from border states. Fifty-five voted in favor and six abstained.
“Some of the members of Parliament rushed to the podium where the speakers and his deputies were in order to disrupt and obstruct the smooth execution of the voting,” Hassan wrote. “At that point, they destroyed the ballot box.” The brawl erupted after the speaker called a hand vote. Witnesses said the outcome prompted some MPs to begin punching each other.
