SOMALIA: Somalis have mixed feelings about arrival of African peacekeepers

Record ID: 375254

  • Title: SOMALIA: Somalis have mixed feelings about arrival of African peacekeepers
  • Date: 8th March 2007
  • Summary: (AD1) MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (MARCH 7, 2007) (REUTERS) VIEW OF THE MOGADISHU STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) AHMED WARSAME MOHAMED, MOGADISHU RESIDENT, SAYING: "The African peace keepers will just bring us more problems; the only solution for Somalia is to have the Islamic Courts Union back in power." VARIOUS OF MOGADISHU STREETS (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) ABDI BASHIR ALI, MOGADISH
  • Embargoed: 23rd March 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA3AR19OSLFHSKKTWMPWDZ5N93L
  • Story Text: A meeting of 250 clan elders was held yesterday (March 6) to condemn the continued presence of Ethiopian troops in Somalia. The meeting comes a few days after the first contingent of African Union peacekeepers arrived in the troubled country. The most powerful men of the fourth largest clan in South central Somalia - the Hawiye clan - met yesterday (March 6) in Mogadishu to voice their disappointment in the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
    The 250 clan leaders issued a statement ahead of a reconciliation meeting called by President Abdulahi Yusuf in April, saying they would not allow the meeting to be held in their area unless they are consulted.
    "We were not consulted about the coming reconciliation meeting, and also the TFG wants to disarm only our clan and not other regions," said Ugaas Abdi Dahir, a Hawiye Clan Leader.
    The reconciliation is said to be aimed at bringing previously warring clans together to work out a power sharing plan.
    The government has had the support of Ethiopian troops to maintain some order since last year when they came to help get the Islamists out of Mogadishu and other key towns in the south.
    "I think the Ethiopians just want to continue the bombardments on the Somali capital and that is very bad for us because they have killed our people, they have to withdraw their troops," said Sheikh Omar another clan leader.
    The TFG is hard pushed to maintain peace in the country. There have been near-daily attacks in Mogadishu that have killed several civilians while hundreds have fled their homes.
    "If there is political conflict between members of the TFG and Islamic courts members then the government must find a solution. They don't need to fund another fruitless reconciliation meeting and international community must know that," said Ahmed Dirie, a Hawiye clan chief.
    A proposed 8,000-strong AU force, designed to replace the Ethiopian troops is still being put together. Ugandan peacekeepers have already started arriving in the capital. Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi and Burundi are also expected to send troops.
    But the presence of foreign troops has received mixed reactions with some people saying the troops are not welcome.
    "The African peace keepers will just bring us more problems; the only solution for Somalia is to have the Islamic courts Union back in power," said Ahmed Warsame Mohamed a resident in Mogadishu.
    "If we can't find any solution within Somalia then we need African and international peacekeepers to rescue us," said Abdi Bashir Ali, another Mogadishu resident.
    "If African peacekeepers come to Somalia and Ethiopians remain here as well, it is wonderful. What the international community is doing is wonderful, but we need to tell them we too can take action for ourselves at some point," added Farah Abdulle, a resident in the capital.
    Somalia has been in anarchy since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. A well-funded U.S.-U.N. peacekeeping mission in the mid-1990s ended in failure and a bloody withdrawal.
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