By Mohamed Olan Hassan
Baidoa, Somalia, Aug 2 (AP) – Somalia’s president told residents of the only town his government controls that they have a week to give up their weapons, after which “every single gun in Baidoa” will be seized by force.
Hundreds of Islamic militia in dozens of pickups mounted with machine guns reached Adado district in the central region of Galgaduud late on Monday, setting up an Islamic court, said Sahal Osman, a resident.
Though the Islamists had been in Adado for a day, information about the Islamists presence only came through late Tuesday because of poor communications between that region and the rest of Somalia.
President Abdullahi Yusuf on Tuesday told mourners gathered in memory of a Cabinet minister killed Friday that his government would pay people for any arms surrendered and that the details of the disarmament plan would be released on Wednesday.
Somalia’s government has no military and relies on a militia loyal to Yusuf.
He did not say why his government had decided on the measure now, but two lawmakers have been shot here over the past week, one fatally, and more than 20 others have resigned in disgust.
“The government is taking strict security measures so everybody in Baidoa who has arms should bring them to the government,” Yusuf said from his base in Baidoa, 250km from Mogadishu.
The administration was formed two years ago with the support of the United Nations to help Somalia emerge from more than a decade of anarchy, but it has established no real authority.
Foreign ministers from the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development who met on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Somalia “urged countries within and outside the region to strictly adhere to the United Nations Security Council arms embargo.”
An arms embargo imposed by the United Nations has been in place since 1992, but all sides in the Somali conflict have violated it.
On Tuesday, Kazakhstan said it was investigating reports that a plane bearing the ex-Soviet republic’s national flag delivered weapons for Islamic militants in Somalia twice last week. Somalia’s government alleges the deliveries were arms from Eritrea.
Officials in Kazakhstan, a vast, oil-rich Central Asian nation, had been involved in a string of illegal arms dealing scandals after the 1991 Soviet collapse that included sales of military equipment to countries including Ethiopia and Congo. Kazakh air operators also often make their planes available for charter.
The region’s foreign ministers also said that their respective defense chiefs would meet soon to discuss plans for a peacekeeping operation in Somalia.
The Islamic group in Somalia has rejected any peacekeeping mission, but the transitional government has repeatedly called for one.
Igad mediated talks that began four years ago that led to the formation of Somalia’s government.
Besides Somalia, Igad’s members include Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya. The grouping seeks to promote peace and economic development in the region.
In Somalia, five ministers resigned on Tuesday, bringing the total number of lawmakers who have stepped down to more than 21.
Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi presides over more than 70 Cabinet ministers and their deputies.
Somalia has a 275-member parliament that was appointed along clan lines to accommodate disparate groups that have the support of ordinary Somalis.
Gedi barely survived a no-confidence vote in parliament over the weekend, but insisted on Tuesday that government would continue to function.
The Arab League had been trying to arrange peace talks between the government and the Islamic group for Wednesday in Khartoum, Sudan, but Gedi said he had spoken to the leadership and the talks were being postponed until Aug. 17 so he can stabilise his government.
It was not immediately clear if the militants would attend. Both sides for the past few weeks have been vacillating on whether they would attend.
The Islamic militants who rule much of the south have imposed strict religious courts, raising fears of an emerging Taliban-style regime.
The United States accuses the group of harbouring al-Qaeda leaders responsible for deadly bombings at the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
The United States and other Western powers have cautioned outsiders against meddling in Somalia, which has no single ruling authority and can be manipulated by anyone with money and guns.
But there is little sign the warning has been heeded.
Source: AP, Aug 2, 2006
