Somalis rally to oppose peacekeepers from neighboring countries
MOGADISHU, Somalia, Mar 15, 2005 (AP) — The self-declared governor of the Somali capital on Tuesday warned of bloodshed if neighboring countries go ahead with plans to send thousands of troops to Somalia to secure the transitional government as it returns home from exile in Kenya.
Abdulahi Ganey Frimbi also urged Somalis to take up arms if the troops are deployed without the consent of the transitional parliament and leaders of armed factions that currently controls the country.
It wasn’t immediately clear how much support Frimbi enjoys or if any of Somalia’s clan-based militias would heed his call.
But tensions are rising in Somalia, where warlords-turned-Cabinet ministers have said they are prepared to accept peacekeepers from the African Union and the Arab League – but not troops from neighbors.
Frimbi was addressing hundreds of demonstrators in Mogadishu opposed to plans announced Monday by defense ministers and officials from seven African countries who agreed to send a 6,800-strong regional force ahead of a fuller African Union peacekeeping mission.
The force will be deployed from the end of April and will include troops from neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya in a mission that will last for some nine months.
“I urge you to take up your arms and be ready for a possible holy war against your country, religion and sovereignty,” Frimbi told a rally organized by regional officials, leaders of civil society groups and representatives of armed factions.
The decision by defense officials must be endorsed by foreign ministers who will meet in Kenya on April 16-17.
Somali ministers, Islamic clerics, some residents and the U.S. State Department have warned that sending troops from the neighboring countries would derail fragile efforts to end a 14-year civil war the Horn of Africa nation.
Warlords and lawmakers from a clan that controls the capital on Sunday offered to withdraw 15,000 militia fighters from Mogadishu to guarantee the security of the country’s government – but only if troops from neighboring countries aren’t sent.
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, some Somali lawmakers 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.
Somalia’s government is based in neighboring Kenya because Mogadishu is considered unsafe.
Demonstrators on Monday carried banners reading: “Nobody can compel us to accept troops from neighboring countries including Ethiopia, which is the enemy number one of Somalia.”
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.