Somali Warlords Deploy Gunmen Amid Attack Fears

Agence France Presse Arab News

MOGADISHU, 12 May 2005 — Somali warlords yesterday began deploying hundreds of fighters in villages in central Somalia following a reported incursion there by Ethiopian troops, militia leaders and witnesses said.

Witnesses said hundreds of gunmen and “technicals” — pick-ups mounted with anti-aircraft artillery or large-caliber machine guns — were camped in Buolfulay village, which straddles the Somali regions of Bay and Bakol, where the incursion reportedly took place, and Lower Shabelle regions.

“We have sent our militiamen to the border of Bay and Bakol to avoid war with Ethiopians and their allied fighters who want to seize Baidoa,” said Yusuf Mohamed Siad, self-declared governor of Lower Shabelle.

“It is a national responsibility to help compatriots under siege by foreigners or those supporting the outsiders,” he said. “Ethiopia is behind the looming hostilities in Baidoa.” Baidoa is the capital of Bay and Bakol and on Tuesday a group of Somali lawmakers said villagers in the region had reported the presence of a large number of armed men backed by some 500 Ethiopian troops.

The legislators also accused Ethiopia of violating a 13-year-old UN arms embargo on Somalia by supplying weapons to various militia. The charges were immediately denied by Ethiopian officials, but in statements issued here and in Nairobi, the 83 MPs insisted that Ethiopia was attempting to help an ousted Somali warlord retake control of Baidoa.

Siad said there were fears in the region that fighters loyal to Hassan Mohamed Nur “Shatigudud” might move beyond Baidoa into neighboring areas if they were successful in mounting an attack on the city.

“If they capture Baidoa, those fighters may advance to the neighboring regions,” he told AFP. Siad and other Somali officials said the reinforcements were aimed at backing the leader of the Rahanwein Resistance Army, Mohamed Ibrahim Habsade, who ousted Shatigudud from control of Baidoa earlier this year.

Fearing imminent violence, some 50 families left Baidoa for Mogadishu yesterday, witnesses said, and Habsade vowed to defend the city from any attack. “Our forces are in full readiness for the defense of Baidoa,” he told AFP from his stronghold.

The town, 250 kilometers from Mogadishu in southern Somalia and about 150 kilometers from the Ethiopian border, was the scene of violent clashes between forces loyal to Shatigudud and Habsade in March.

The fighting revolved around a bitter ongoing dispute over where the Somali transitional government should move when it eventually relocates from exile in Kenya.

However, Somali Justice Minister Aden Mohamed Nur “Madobe,” named as an alleged recipient of the Ethiopian weapons, rejected the claims as he headed to the tension-hit town to mediate peace.