Elder to choose mayor

2005-12-27 13:51

Mogadishu - Mogadishu's new city council on Tuesday named a respected ex-banker to oversee the process of choosing a mayor for Somalia's lawless capital, which has caused quarrels and revived clan rivalry.

The move followed the failure on Monday of the 64-member council appointed at the weekend by Mogadishu warlords and clan elders in defiance of Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi and his own proposed candidate to reach a consensus.

Gedi heads a transitional government that is largely powerless because of disputes within its own ranks in the poor Horn of Africa country where law and order have broken down and local warlords have been at one another's throats since the 1991 ouster of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre.

In a bid to bridge differences without the violence so common in the city, the council selected Alinur Mohamed Ahmed, formerly an official with Somalia's defunct central bank, to shepherd the election of the council's leadership which will culminate with the naming of a new mayor.

"We need a leadership that will make Mogadishu safe for its people and others wishing to live here," Ahmed said after his appointment. "Mogadishu must be peaceful and part of the civilised world."

Bitter dispute

The new mayor will be tasked with restoring stability in the capital, which has been the epicenter of the violence that wracked most of the country in the 14 years since Barre was overthrown.

Gedi had appointed Addi Gabow to be mayor for Mogadishu shortly before his year-old government moved to Somalia from its birthplace in exile in Kenya in June.

But amid a bitter dispute over the seat of the government - which has seen Gedi and his allies move to the provincial town of Jowhar north of the capital for security reasons and others base themselves in Mogadishu - Gabow was rejected by the warlords who control the city.

The new council, which is unrecognized by the Jowhar faction, on Monday named a mayor to replace Gabow but his nomination was defeated by members of Gabow's sub-clan.

Numerous efforts to create a viable new administration have failed. Gedi's government is the latest of these attempts but it has been torn asunder by internal rifts that many fear could lead to broader conflict.

- SAPA