SOMALIA: Somalia's interim government says it wants African peacekeepers to be deployed in the country as soon as possible as government troops search for weapons in Mogadishu neighbourhoods

Record ID: 179875

  • Title: SOMALIA: Somalia's interim government says it wants African peacekeepers to be deployed in the country as soon as possible as government troops search for weapons in Mogadishu neighbourhoods
  • Date: 14th January 2007
  • Summary: MOGADISHU STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) MOGADISHU RESIDENT, ANSHUR ALI HASSAN, SAYING: "My view is that the marshal law is a problem for Somali people and will create a dictatorship." MOGADISHU STREET (SOUNDBITE)(Somali) MOGADISHU RESIDENT, MOHAMED MOHAMUD, SAYING: "Without Marshal law there will be chaos in Somalia, because everyone has weapons, I prefer that this martia
  • Embargoed: 29th January 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAQYPBRC0VF3OINVZHA7O6VC4P
  • Story Text: Africa Union officials arrive in Somalia to plan peace force as as government troops search for weapons in Mogadishu neighbourhoods.
    African Union officials have arrived in Somalia to finalise plans for a peacekeeping force as government troops searched for weapons in the latest push to bring back order after weeks of war, an official said Sunday (January 14).
    Somalia's interim government wants African peacekeepers to be deployed as soon as possible after its troops, backed by Ethiopian forces, ousted Islamists in a lightning offensive.
    "A military delegation from the AU are in Mogadishu for assessment and to talk about the possibility of African peacekeeping troops in Somalia and to look at the bases where they will shelter and how their mission will start," Government Spokesman Abdirahman Dinari, told a news conference.
    Uganda is ready to provide the first battalion, but awaits its parliamentary approval. Kenya, chair of regional body IGAD, has sent officials to several African nations to seek support for the force.
    The African Union's Peace and Security Council agreed this week to increase the number of troops from a proposed 8,000-strong deployment and called on the international community to fund the peace mission.
    Ethiopia wants to withdraw in coming weeks its soldiers who have come under attack several times in the capital Mogadishu.
    Diplomats fear that would leave the government vulnerable to remnant Islamists vowing guerrilla war, warlords seeking to re-create their fiefdoms and competing clans and have called for the urgent deployment of the force to stabilise the nation.
    Washington sent a warplane into Somalia on Monday in an attempt to destroy an al Qaeda cell accused of bombing two U.S. embassies and an Israeli-owned hotel in east Africa.
    Its strike was its first overt military involvement in Somalia since a disastrous peacekeeping mission in 1994.
    It killed up to 10 al Qaeda allies, but missed its main target of three top suspects, the U.S. government said. Washington denies carrying out any further strikes.
    "We requested from the USA for air and sea surveillance so that Islamists do not flee this way, we also requested the Kenyan government to close its border, but there are no ground forces inside Somalia. They are looking from the air and sea for the terrorists and they have the right to do this, they are hunting and targeting them," said Dinari.
    Dinari said several "terrorists" with Danish, Eritrean and Swedish passports had been intercepted.
    "I don't want to mention persons, because still we are investigating, but there are different nationalities, there is Swedish, there are Britons, there is Danish, there are Eritreans, there are Chechnyans and some of them we have captured," Dinari added.
    Dinari explained that the government is seeking to install itself in Mogadishu -- one of the world's most dangerous cities -- and faces a huge challenge to bring peace and security to a nation, without effective central rule since the 1991 ouster of a dictator.
    "This marshal law is five articles and we are pressuring the government to bring back law and order, for example you can't have technicals (battle wagons), you can't organize demonstrations without permission, and it gives the president powers to nominate anyone he wants," Dinari said.
    On Saturday Somalia's parliament declared a three-month state of emergency amid fears of a return to clan violence after the Islamists, ruling much of the south since June, were ousted. The announcement has raised fears in Mogadishu.
    "My view is that the marshal law is a problem for Somali people and will create a dictatorship," said Anshur Ali Hassan, a resident of Mogadishu.
    The law prohibits unauthorised protests and bans possession of weapons by individuals. It allows President Abdullahi Yusuf to issue a decree on how to implement the state of emergency.
    "Without Marshal law there will be chaos in Somalia, because everyone has weapons, I prefer that this martial law is implemented," added another resident, Mohamed Mohamud.
    Residents fear Mogadishu could slide back into the kind of anarchy that gripped the city since then.
    On Friday, warlord gunmen tried to force their way inside Villa Somalia and fought troops. The shootout which killed several people was the kind of clash that used to be commonplace in Mogadishu.
    Somali warlords agreed on Friday to merge their forces into a new national army and Yusuf has called on them and clan elders to hand over militia for the force.
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