Capital to house Somali govt

2005-02-25 09:29

Jowhar - Despite rampant insecurity and threats to resist peacekeepers in the Somali capital, Somalia's exiled transitional government will relocate to Mogadishu, President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed vowed on Friday.

On the second day of a brief fact-finding mission to his homeland - his first since taking the helm of the government last year - Yusuf also rejected opposition to the peacekeeping force, saying its deployment was certain.

Before leaving this town north of Mogadishu on Friday, Yusuf politely turned down offers from leaders in Jowhar and other municipalities to temporarily host his the government led by Prime Minister Mohammed Ali Gedi.

"The people of Jowhar have showed their willingness to host the Somali government as an interim seat before we move to Mogadishu," he told a reception of supporters.

"Other towns are also (offering) the same but the capital of Somalia is Mogadishu and we shall go there to thwart efforts of the minority of rejecting peace," Yusuf said.

On Thursday, the governor of Middle Shabelle province, where Jowhar is located, had offered the town as a temporary location for the government to sit.

Violence

Mogadishu has been awash in a sea of anarchic violence for 14 years since the 1991 ouster of Somali strongman Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 turned the Horn of Africa nation into a patchwork of fiefdoms ruled by violent warlords.

To get a foothold there, Gedi's government has requested and received authorisation from the African Union (AU) for the deployment of regional peacekeepers.

But the proposed deployment has drawn vehement opposition from many Somalis, particularly hard-line Islamic clerics in Mogadishu, who are opposed to the presence of any foreign troops in the country.

In recent weeks, there have been several deadly attacks - the fatal shooting of a BBC journalist and a roadside bombing that narrowly missed a visiting AU delegation - that analysts believe were warnings against outside intervention.

But Yusuf insisted that the peacekeepers - initially from east African nations - would be coming and said the government would not be deterred by "elements who are relentlessly fighting against" peace and the government.

"Definitely, foreign troops will be deployed to support the disarmament and that is the only way to achieve lasting peace," Yusuf said.

- AFP