Somali warlords offers to withdraw militia from the country’s capital

By RODRIQUE NGOWI, Associated Press Writer

NAIROBI, Kenya, 12 March 2005 (AP) — Warlords and lawmakers from a clan that controls the Somali capital offered to withdraw 15,000 militia fighters from Mogadishu to guarantee the security of the country’s transitional government as it returns from exile in Kenya.

Some 61 lawmakers, including warlords-turned-Cabinet ministers, also pledged Saturday to disarm the fighters, demobilize others and surrender weapons and ammunition to an interim force planned to stabilize the anarchic nation ahead of a larger peacekeeping force.

The militia will be quartered in six camps 30-50 kilometers (19-31 miles) outside Mogadishu some three months after lawmakers return to the city, Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Mohamed Aidid said. The government is based in Kenya because the Somali capital is considered unsafe.

“But there is a condition that troops from neighboring countries (Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya) should not take part in the relocation plan of the government,” said Aidid, a former U.S. Marine.

Ethiopia actively supported Somali factions with money and weapons in the civil war that started in 1991, and its troops could seek to advance Ethiopian interests if deployed in the Horn of Africa nation, Aidid said.

Somalis also remember the war they lost in 1977 over control of Ethiopia’s southeastern Ogaden region, largely inhabited by ethnic Somalis. The Somali army never recovered from the defeat, a fact that eventually helped warlords to overthrow dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

The U.S. State Department supported the stance of Somali lawmakers early this month.

Somalia’s transitional parliament is expected to consider two competing motions next week on a multinational force intended to help restore order in the country, Deputy Speaker Dalha Omar said.

He said at least 75 lawmakers filed a motion backing the force — minus troops from the neighboring countries. The government, however, has tabled a plan that will not bar neighbors, Omar said.

The differences are delaying the return of the government to Somalia, Aidid said.

The warlords who rejected troops from neighboring countries include Minster for National Security Mohamed Qanyare Afrah, Minister for Trade Musa Sudi Yalahow, Minister for Demobilization Botan Isse and Minister for Religious Affairs Omar Mohamud — all members of the Hawiye clan, Aidid said.

Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi’s Cabinet asked the African Union and Arab League earlier this month to send between 5,000 and 7,500 troops with a one-year mandate to protect the government as it organizes a police force and army.

The AU Peace and Security Council authorized deployment of an interim force ahead of a fuller AU mission.

Residents of Mogadishu and other southern towns, however, have held several demonstrations against having troops from Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya included in a force. Some protesters rejected troops from any foreign country.

Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti later said they would send troops only if Somalia requests them.

Somalia has been without an effective central government since clan-based warlords ousted Barre. They then turned on each other, sinking the Horn of Africa nation of 7 million into anarchy.