Friday, February 20, 2009

Somali fighters trusted with security

Somali fighters are given control of the security checkpoints in the capital, Mogadishu following reconciliation with the new government.

On Thursday, the gunmen entered the checkpoints formerly occupied by the soldiers enlisted with the former administration of president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.

"We have deployed our forces…to take over the security. It is good news for Somalis who suffered in the hands of the soldiers," opposition spokesman Abdi Rahim Isse Addow said, a Press TV correspondent reported.

The fighters are those loyal to the main opposition, Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).

"We are in the process of undertaking the second phase….It will include removing of all illegal check points in the capital's neighborhoods and districts to allow the administration combat the insecurity in the town," said Mogadishu mayor Mohamed Osman Ali Dhagah Tuur.

The UIC laid down arms after their former leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed replaced Yusuf Ahmed and agreed to form a joint armed force with the Somali soldiers on the new president's orders.

The compromise raised hopes of stability in the country which has suffered its share of violence since the 1991 ouster of the former dictator president Mohammed Siad Bare by the warlords.

Source: Press TV

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