Brawling MPs arrested
2005-03-19 18:10
Nairobi - Kenyan police said on Saturday they had arrested a Somali warlord and two members of Somalia's exiled parliament over a bloody brawl on Thursday among MPs over the deployment of regional peacekeepers in the shattered country.
Warlord Musa Sudi Yalahow, who is also the Somali transitional government trade minister, was arrested in the Kenyan capital along with lawmakers Hussein Harale and Maalim Mahamoud Mohammed, a police official said.
The official, who asked not be named, said the three were arrested on suspicion of involvement in Thursday's fighting in the Somali parliament that left several people injured.
"We are investigating whether they were involved in the fighting. We are still pursuing others," the officer said.
The fighting broke out after more than 200 lawmakers gathered to debate the hotly contested issue of whether or not troops from Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya should participate in the force that is to be deployed by the regional InterGovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
The warlords, including Yalahow, had opposed the inclusion of troops from the three countries in the peace mission that will help the Somali government relocate from Kenya, where it has been since it was formed several months ago.
Somali parliamentary speaker Sheikh Shariff Aden and Kenya's ambassador to the Horn of Africa country, Mohammed Affey, were trying on Saturday to secure freedom for the detainees.
Another warlord, Osman Ali Ato, said he had gone into hiding after receiving information that police were pursuing him.
"I have heard that they are looking for me too. Yalahow and I were not involved," Ato said.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, his Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Gedi, the cabinet and parliament are still in Kenya owing to insecurity in their homeland, despite their professed intention to return to Somalia.