     QOSLAAYE | Monday, September 18, 2000 - 11:28 am
Dear Readers: How could he(abdi qasim) advocate for piece when he can't take his head from his ass.
Not surprisingly, four of Mogadishu's five main faction leaders are promising resistance and, after years of fighting turf wars that have destroyed the country, say they will work together against the new government.
"We are all opposed to it," said Muse Sudi Yalahow, who has his stronghold in the sprawling Medina district.
"Each faction leader is responsible for his area of the capital and he will defend it. If any of them are weakened, we will help them. We are united in collaborating to resist these people," he told Reuters on Friday.
Gunfire echoed across Medina for a third straight day on Friday amid reports that Yalahow's militiamen were fighting between themselves and two were killed. Yalahow said they were simply testing their weapons ahead of possible clashes with pro-government forces.
The new president's allies dismiss talk of resistance, saying the warlords have lost much of their power because they are no longer supported by their own clans.
Many of the militiamen have been hired away from the faction leaders and into the Islamic Courts or business militias in the past two years, and more could now defect in search of a police career and a steady salary.
"Of course the warlords are not happy but they cannot change the situation. They cannot afford to pay them or feed them," said General Mohamed Nor Galal, one of the former military officers leading the new security committee.
Like the others, Galal served under former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, whose overthrow in early 1991 sparked the clan-based fighting that plunged Somalia into chaos and devastated this once-beautiful coastal city.
The Mogadishu warlords and the northern regions of Puntland and Somaliland have attacked the new government and parliament as an alliance of Islamic fundamentalists and discredited officials from the Siad Barre regime.
Many Somalis do seem concerned by the involvement of former army generals -- including some with allegations of human rights abuses against them.
Tens of thousands of people celebrated in the streets when Abdiqassim Salad -- once Siad Barre's interior minister -- made a two-day visit to Mogadishu after being elected president. |
