Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Traditional leaders and businessmen from the Hawiye clan have long criticized the leadership of President Abdullahi Yusuf, a member of the rival Darod clan. Clan rivalries have been the key hurdle preventing the formation of an effective central government since 1992.
The Hawiye statement criticizing the government was issued the day after the first Ugandan peacekeepers arrived in Somalia and were met with mortars and a deadly gunbattle on the city's crumbling streets. Early Wednesday, the violence continued as gunmen killed two police officers who were trying to search vehicles for weapons.
Tuesday's gunfight, involving masked gunmen and mortar fire, killed seven people and wounded 10, all of them civilians, witnesses and police said. It was the latest example of the volatility peacekeepers face in a country that has seen little more than anarchy, and where the government backed by Ethiopian troops toppled an Islamic militia only months ago.
"Five people were caught in the cross fire in the neighborhoods around the Defense Ministry compound and two others died later," said Dr. Hassan Gutale Ahmed, who works at Hangul Private Hospital. "More than 10 people were wounded, seven of them when a minibus was hit by a mortar round."
Insurgents believed to be the remnants of Somalia's Council of Islamic Courts and members of the Hawiye clan have staged almost daily attacks against the government, its armed forces or the Ethiopian military. Ethiopian troops respond to mortar attacks on their compounds by returning fire with artillery and mortars into civilian areas.
"We call for the government to stop shelling civilians in response to the insurgent attacks," the Hawiye statement said. The group accused the government of trying to selectively disarm some clans, while allowing other to keep their weapons.
The clan elders also said the government army was dominated by Darod militiamen and demanded greater diversity among the security forces and in top leadership positions. The Hawiye who do serve in some Cabinet positions were chosen by Yusuf.
Interior Minister Mohamed Mohamud Guled dismissed the statement as not representing true Hawiye views.
"There are parasitic groups and organizations that are not happy with the government, and they are using the clan elders as political tools to achieve hidden agendas," he said.
In Nairobi, Somalia's ambassador to Kenya said a long-discussed peace conference would be held in mid-April.
"The preparatory work of the National Reconciliation Congress has started," Mohammed Ali Nor said. He added it would be led by a committee independent from the government and that 3,000 former politicians, clan elders, religious leaders and business people will participate.
However, he said remnants of the Islamic courts who don't renounce violence wouldn't be allowed to participate.
The Ugandan peacekeepers, serving under an African Union mandate, arrived in the capital Tuesday to protect the government and to allow for the withdrawal of troops from neighboring Ethiopia, which helped the administration topple a radical Islamic militia that controlled much of southern Somalia for six months.
The Ugandan troops are the vanguard of a larger force authorized by the U.N. to help the government assert its authority in one of the most violent and gun- infested cities in the world. Peacekeepers have kept clear of Mogadishu for more than a decade, while much of the country was ruled by violence and clan law.
Source: AP, Mar 07, 2007