Tuesday, September 19, 2006
In a statement issued in Nairobi on Tuesday, the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative for Somalia Francois Lonseny Fall said he was relieved that the president, other leaders and lawmakers were not hurt in the explosion, which left 11 people dead.
“We condemn the bombing attempt on the life of the Somali president, ‘Abdullah Yusuf. We also express sadness at the loss of life and injuries to innocent bystanders,” said Fall, who spoke for the world body and the 25-nation EU bloc.
“We condemn this attack on the peace process and call on all Somalis to resolve their differences peacefully,” the U.N. envoy said.
“Speaking on behalf of the United Nations and all member states of the European Union, Ambassador Fall called for calm in Somalia,” the statement said.
Earlier Monday, a remote-controlled car bomb, followed by a second explosion and a gun battle between presumed attackers and Yusuf’s security forces, rocked Baidoa, about 250 kilometers northwest of Mogadishu, killing at least 11 people.
The U.N./EU statement came as Yusuf, who survived the assassination attempt on his life, said suicide bombers were behind the attack.
Yusuf said the bomber rammed a car packed with explosives into a presidential convoy. Yusuf said he escaped his burning car, but confirmed that his brother and three bodyguards were killed.
“The attack was a suicide car bomb against me. The suicide car hit the first car in the convoy and exploded,” Yusuf told the BBC Somali language radio service.
“A fireball then came up to my car and forced me to change cars. That is when another bomb in a second car exploded,” Yusuf said. “It is the first time that we have had a suicide bomb in Somalia.”
Yusuf, who had just addressed his lawmakers in parliament, was not hurt but five members of his entourage, including his younger brother, were killed, as were six alleged assailants, according to his foreign minister, Isma’il Mohammud Hurreh.
It is not clear who carried out the attack. The Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC), the Islamist grouping that controls much of the south of the country, including the bullet-riddled capital, Mogadishu, has condemned it.
Despite the blast, the lawmakers went ahead with their meeting in a converted warehouse, which serves as the parliament. They approved the new government line-up, replacing the previous one, which Yusuf dissolved due to incompetence.
Premier Muhammad ‘Ali Gedi, who last year survived two assassination attempts on his life, blamed the Monday attack on “terrorists” organized within the Horn of African nation.
In a statement, Gedi confirmed that two attackers had been arrested and others were being pursued while his foreign minister told reporters in Kenya on Monday that the incident was linked to the weekend murder of an Italian nun in Mogadishu.
Hurreh was referring to the killing on Sunday of Sister Leonella Sgorbati, 65, who was gunned down by two men at a charity hospital in the capital, amid rage over Pope Benedict XVI’s recent comments about Islam.
A group of Italian Catholic nuns are being evacuated from Mogadishu.
The Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) has condemned the killing of the Catholic nun.
Like his president, Hurreh refused to speculate as to who was behind the blasts and the killing of the nun but suggested they were probably linked to the proposed peacekeeping mission.
“I am not accusing anybody at this stage, because I don’t want to speculate at this particularly moment, but there were some people who were claiming to fight IGAD, and Somalia is part of IGAD,” Hurreh said.
Regional diplomats say the violence is expected to further heighten tension in war-torn Somalia, which has not had a functioning national government for 15 years.
Analysts said the bomb blasts come amid pleas from the transitional federal government (TFG) to the African Union (AU), to send peacekeepers to the country to protect the powerless administration.
A standing international arms embargo on the country further challenges the deployment of peacekeepers to the troubled Horn of Africa nation, as well as the fact that the AU cannot afford the multi-million dollar peacekeeping mission.
But the Islamists have vowed to fight foreign troops if they are sent to Somalia to support Yousuf’s government by the seven-member east African Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
The AU Security Council recently approved plans to send a contingent of peacekeepers to Somalia by the end of the month. However, the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts has vowed to fight any foreign force entering the country.
The country’s 14th attempt at government since the ouster of a dictator in 1991 has been stymied by infighting and the newly empowered Islamists who have taken control of Mogadishu and large parts of southern Somalia.
Source: The Media Line, Sept 19, 2006
