November 17 2004 at 12:13PM
Kenya - Two armed men attempted to break into the Nairobi home of the new Somali president early on Wednesday, triggering a gun battle with Kenyan paramilitary police guarding the premises, a Somali official said.
The unidentified assailants fled into the night after the confrontation in a wealthy, western suburb of the Kenya's capital, said the official, who is close to the Somali leader, on condition of anonymity.
Following the confrontation, Kenyan security forces immediately beefed up security around Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who was elected on October 10 by a 275-member parliament in Nairobi. The recently named parliament is meeting in Nairobi because Somalia is not safe enough.
"We are very, very confident and comfortable with the Kenyan security. It is their duty to investigate the matter," said Somali presidential spokesperson Yusuf Mohamed Ismail.
Kenyan Police Spokesperson Superintendent Jaspher Ombati refused to confirm the attack, saying he didn't have detailed information.
Yusuf's election triggered brief fighting between the semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland and the breakaway republic of Somaliland.
The country of seven million - split between clan-based militias since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991 - has been struggling to establish peace and order after 13 years without a central government.
More than 500 000 have died since Barre's fall and two million have been driven from their homes with 1,5-million of them refugees in neighbouring countries.
Somalia's civil war has devastated the country's physical infrastructure, and Yusuf's government has no civil service, treasury or even buildings to meet in.
A previous central government created in 2000 by clan leaders never managed to control more than parts of Mogadishu and a few areas outside the capital. - Sapa-AP