Mogadishu politicians want Ethiopian, Puntland troops out

[Hiiraan boy]

MOGADISHU, Somalia Mar 25 (Garowe Online) - Politicians and elders representing the Somalis’ Hawiye clan –family met on Sunday in the capital Mogadishu and released a 9-point statement following meetings with Ethiopian military officers.

The group’s spokesman, Haji Abdi Imaan, told local press after the meeting that the Hawiye clan, the predominant community in Mogadishu, does not support terrorism and that they are not al-Qaeda.

The statement they issued called for the removal of Ethiopian troops from Mogadishu, and called on President Abdullahi Yusuf to send his troops back to Puntland.

Inside sources tell Garowe Online that the Hawiye politicians requested from Ethiopian officers that their troops remain impartial, since theirs was a clan conflict with President Yusuf, a member of the Darod clan-family.

The sources also said the politicians asked that they be allowed to keep funds and property acquired illegally in the post-1991 area, when hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes and businesses in Mogadishu as the Somali civil war erupted.

The Hawiye politicians said they would transfer prisoners of war captured in last week’s gunfights between government and allied Ethiopian troops versus masked militiamen.

President Yusuf’s interim government has repeatedly blamed remnants of the ousted Islamic Courts movement for rising insecurity in Mogadishu, but observers say the open involvement of Hawiye politicians shows other key players.

Interior Minister Mohamed “Gamodheere” Mohamud, himself a Hawiye clansman, advised Mogadishu’s local politicians to approach and negotiate directly with the government.

“Ethiopian troops don’t have the authority to negotiate with [Hawiye] elders, but the government does,” Minister Gamodheere said.

Defections

More than 100 soldiers that defected from the Somali military reached the central town of Beletwein, residents reported.

Muse “Sangaab” Mohamed, commander of 123 defecting soldiers, said they left Mogadishu because they refused to fight against insurgents in the capital.

Sangaab said him and his loyal soldiers are still part of the Somali army but that they won’t fight. Sources said the defecting troops are originally from Hiran region, where Beletwein serves as regional seat.

Government spokesmen declined to comment on this story.

Garowe Online News