Deposed Bosaso mayor shows up at office with gunmen, battlew

[Hiiraan boy]

Deposed Somalia mayor shows up at office with gunmen, battlewagons
18 Jun 18, 2007 - 7:29:52 PM

Khadar Haji Mire maintains he is the mayor of Bossaso
BOSSASO, Somalia June 18 (Garowe Online) - Residents in the northern Somali port city of Bossaso were angered Monday when news broke that the city mayor accused of corruption and voted out showed up at the mayor's office backed more than 50 militiamen and two armed vehicles.

Khadar Haji Mire was the mayor of Bossaso and chairman of the 27-member District Council until yesterday, when he lost a vote of confidence within the DC.

Council Vice Chairman Mohamed Said "Hito", Mire's deputy, told local press that 19 of the 21 Councilors present at the Sunday meeting voted to remove Mire from the post of mayor while the remaining two abstained.

Charges levied against the former mayor by fellow Councilors include dfinancial mismanagement, abuse of power and an attempt to sell off public land to private bidders.

Mire still claims that he is the elected mayor of Bossaso, backed by guns and clan fighters. His calls for support were joined later Sunday by two political heavyweights: Puntland President Adde Muse and Local Government and Regional Development Minister Ali Abdi Awaare.

The two high-ranking officials issued a statement dismissing Sunday's vote of confidence whereby Mire lost his position.

According to the Muse-Awaare letter, the vote of confidence was "illegal" since former mayor Mire was not present during the vote, nor was any official from the Ministry of Local Government who normally oversee such legal procedures.

Talk in Bossaso centered mainly on President Muse's intervention, with locals wondering about the president's motivation for intervening of behalf of the deposed mayor.

"They [District Council] followed democratic procedure and he [Khadar Haji Mire] brought militias to support him," said one Bossaso resident.

Mire was elected in 2005 when the Adde Muse administration established clan-based District Councils in major Puntland cities as part of a democratization program.

Bossaso is Puntland's most populous city and a bustling port hub along the Gulf of Aden.