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Warlords withdraw fighters
15/05/2005 12:58 - (SA)
Mogadishu - Warlords controlling thousands of militia fighters in the Somali capital have begun pulling their troops out of Mogadishu to restore help order there, a move the African Union has said is essential to stabilise Somalia.
Hundreds of heavily armed militiamen, who not too long ago fought one another on the streets of Mogadishu, parked about 60 pickups mounted with machine-guns at Mogadishu's main football stadium on Saturday, shook hands, smiled at each other and even struck up conversations.
Freelance militiamen and those controlled by businessmen and Islamic courts, however, are not part of the pullout, and this could undermine efforts to restore order in the city where an estimated 10 500 armed fighters operate.
An aim of the pullout is to guarantee the security of the transitional government when it returns home from exile in neighbouring Kenya.
From early on Saturday, Mogadishu residents gathered at the stadium to witness the militias come together before they drove to camps outside the city where they will be restricted.
Miigane Afrah Muuse, 25, said he was happy to work with militiamen who were his rivals for the sake of peace in Somalia.
"We have been fighting each other because of our warlords, but if they are now united, we have no cause to oppose each other," Muuse said, sitting on a big truck mounted with anti-aircraft guns.
Camps outside Mogadishu
Later, the militiamen drove about 50 of the pickups mounted with machine-guns to two camps outside the city, where they will joined by others and eventually be demobilised. In total, there are four such camps outside Mogadishu.
Somalia has been without a central government since clan-based warlords overthrew the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Warlords then turned on each other, plunging the Horn of Africa nation of seven million into anarchy.
Its government, formed in 2004, is opposed by Islamic extremists and some of the dozens of warlords in the country.
Efforts to relocate to Mogadishu have been undermined by government divisions over plans to deploy peacekeepers, including from neighbouring Ethiopia.
The African Union has said in the past that it is important militias in Mogadishu, considered the most dangerous part of Somalia, be brought under control by their warlords and sponsors before peacekeepers can be sent to the Horn of Africa country.
On Thursday, the African Union Peace and Security Council authorized the deployment of a 1 700-strong Ugandan-Sudanese peacekeeping force to protect government officials, secure supply routes and carry out reconnaissance missions.
- AP
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