Somalia TNG will Return From Exile Despite Warlords

June 4, 2005

Dr. Abdullahi Mohamed (Deputy Editor)

Mogadishu (HAN) June 4, 2005 - The government of Somalia says it will return from exile despite Warlords violence in recent days in the southwestern town of Baidoa, which was chosen as the temporary headquarters of the new government. The news came from the government spokesman in Kenya, where the government is presently situated.

The Southern Warlords in Somalia are seeking to place conditions on the rule of a new national government, the Fides news service reports. Fighting started after a local warlord launched an attack on Baidoa on May 27. Pro-government troops tried to take back the town, and in the fighting at least 15 people were killed and 20 wounded. “The warlord who led the attack is head of a sub-clan which controls Baidoa” local sources told Fides. “The sub-clan is connected with the main clan which
controls Mogadishu and which wants the Somali government to be installed in the capital.”

_“The violence was a clear message to the government: “you must come to an agreement with us if you want to install yourselves in Somali
territory” the sources told Fides.

Somalia has been without a functioning national government for more than a decade. After months of negotiations in Kenya, last October the representatives of the warlords who have vied for control of the African nation's territory selected a transitional government, now headed by Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi. That government has now begun plans to assert control over the country.

In May, the government announced plans to set up headquarters in the towns of Jowhar and Baidoa, because the capital city of Mogadishu is not yet regarded as secure.

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