MOGADISHU, 13 May 2005 — Somalia’s Commerce Minister and Mogadishu warlord, Muse Sudi Yalahow, said that Cabinet and Parliament members in Mogadishu had agreed to establish a united security force to stabilize the chaotic capital city.
He said that the withdrawal of warlords’ militia and some of their battlewagons from the city would start next week.
The government has been based in neighboring Kenya since it has been formed in 2004, as Mogadishu has been considered insecure. The transitional government is also under pressure from foreign donors to relocate to Somalia.
Government divisions have undermined the relocation of the government to Mogadishu over proposed participation of peacekeepers from neighboring Ethiopia.
Somali leaders and warlords are also divided over where in Somalia the administration should be based.
The interim constitution names Mogadishu as the capital, while the city is considered the most dangerous place in Somalia.
Last week, a blast killed at least 14 people in Mogadishu, as Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi made a speech during his first visit to the city since being appointed. Gedi is under pressure to base his government in the capital.
He later said the blast was an accident and denied he had been targeted.
“Members of the cabinet and MPs will pull their militia back to training camps outside Mogadishu in next week. This step will guarantee the security of the transitional government when it returns home from neighboring Kenya. We (warlords) want to show the international community that Mogadishu is safe enough for the government to set up there, “ Yalahow told Arab News here in Mogadishu, “The militia will be retrained and turned into a security force.”
Mohamed Qanyare, NationalSecurity Minister; Osman Atto, Public Works Minister; Muse Sude Yalahow, Commerce Minister, were Mogadishu warlords who had become cabinet members. However, the position of the main Mogadishu warlord, Hussein Aidid, now Deputy Premier and Interior Minister, is not clear and now stays in Nairobi.
Yalahow said that the new security force will stop banditry and dismantle the roadblock. “We have agreed on what proportion of the new security force each will contribute,” he said.
Speaking about neighboring Ethiopia, the commerce minister said that he was worried about what he called “violent conflict looming” particularly in the southern and central regions of Bay and Bakool and the town of Baidoa in Somalia. Yalahow attributes this looming violence to the Ethiopian government’s alleged long-time support of factions operating in these areas.
“We condemn Ethiopian involvement and protest its military aggression against the Somali people by backing militias loyal to faction leaders allied or known to be allied with the Ethiopians. The Ethiopian government have supplied these militias with weapons and ammunition,” he said.
Ethiopian government spokesman Zemedkun Tekle denied that his government was supplying arms and other support to Somali factions and said his country wanted Somalia to be stable and peaceful. “Our position as the government of Ethiopia is very clear: we need to get a peaceful and strong central government in Somalia. Ethiopia has tried her best to get that kind of government in Somalia. There is no interest of Ethiopia to help one party than the other,” he said.
Ethiopia is a member of the regional grouping Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which sponsored a two-year Somali peace talks in Nairobi that brought together factional leaders, civil society leaders and others to end 14 years of anarchy and to form a new transitional government.
