23 May 2005
By Guled Mohamed
NAIROBI, May 23 (Reuters) - Somalia's interim parliament speaker dismissed on Monday reports that a weekend explosion had targeted him for his presence in Mogadishu.
Eyewitnesses said the speaker was headed towards Hilweyene -- one of two camps where there are militiamen who are to be disarmed under a plan favoured by proponents of putting the government in Mogadishu -- when something exploded along the roadside on Sunday.
The witnesses told Reuters it happened about 10 minutes before Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan drove through El-Irfiid, 30 km (18 miles) north of Mogadishu.
Witnesses and hospital officials said four men were injured in the explosion, for which no one has claimed responsibility.
Sharif Hassan, who is part of the government faction which insists the capital be Mogadishu as stipulated in the interim constitution, dismissed the report as false.
"Nothing like that happened, that is totally lies. The people of Mogadishu have nothing against me or anybody else. They are craving for the government and would never do anything like that," he told Reuters.
Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said he was not aware of the incident. "I have not heard of it," he said.
RIFT IN GOVERNMENT OVER MOGADISHU
Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said on Friday his government would relocate to the southwestern town of Baidoa and Jowhar, north of Mogadishu, starting on May 28.
Gedi and President Abdullahi Yussuf, still based in neighbouring Kenya, want to place the government outside lawless Mogadishu, which they say is too dangerous.
They would prefer to move first to Baidoa and Jowhar until Mogadishu can be made safe.
But Sharif Hassan has returned to Mogadishu along with about 90 others, including powerful Mogadishu warlords in the government, to make the case that the city is safe enough for the administration.
They also have begun efforts to disarm militiamen there to prove that troops from regional countries are not needed to do the job, as Yussuf and his supporters have argued. A hand grenade killed at least 14 people and wounded dozens in Mogadishu stadium three weeks ago, moments after Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi addressed hundreds of supporters.
Gedi, who was unhurt, told reporters in Mogadishu that the blast appeared to have been an accident. But members of his government in Nairobi and witnesses have said it was an attack aimed at Gedi.