www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-13 04:56:59
NAIROBI, March 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Key Mogadishu-based Somali warlords and lawmakers from the powerful Hawiye clan on Saturday appealed to international community to help the newly established government disarm about 60,000 militia in the country.
Addressing a news conference in Nairobi, the lawmakers also announced the formation of various committees tasked with demobilization, disarmament and integration of the militia to enable the interim government get a foothold in the capital Mogadishu.
The warlords and legislators from the dominant Hawiye clan, whocontrol the capital Mogadishu, said they planned to visit the bullet-scarred city to flush out gunmen roaming there who have vowed to oppose the deployment of foreign troops.
"We are ready to remove the militia and their weapons from the city ... and to attain this goal we need the international community to speedily render the requested financial assistance without which the implementation of our plans will not be possible," said Omar Hashi Adan who represented over 60 legislators.
The committees are expected to conclude their work after 90 days, Adan told reporters in Nairobi.
But the warlords and lawmakers reiterated their rejection to plans to include troops from neighboring countries in a regional force to secure the country's transitional government as it returns from exile in neighboring Kenya.
"Such forces should not, under any circumstances or pretext includes troops coming from countries having common borders with Somalia. It is not proper for parliament to discuss about troops from neighboring countries crossing Somali borders, since this question was decided by the reconciliation conference which excluded such troops becoming part of the envisaged international force," they vowed.
Early this year, warlord Osman Ali Ato urged Somalis to attack any foreign peacekeeping troops being sent to support the Somali government, while thousands have staged demonstrations in Mogadishu to protest against the idea.
The legislators who talked to reporters after two-day meeting in Nairobi agreed to surrender territory they controlled in Mogadishu to the transitional government, which is still holed up in Kenya owing to insecurity in Somalia.
"Once a dependable security situation is attained, the seaport and airport facilities will be reopened and appropriate new systemof management will be set up. The primary aim is to ensure the security of the capital coupled with the restoration of law and order," they said in a joint statement read by Adan.
Somalia is composed of 18 regions, of which eight regions live in relative stability.
The remaining 10 regions constituted the epicenter of the civilwar and the largest numbers of militias were located in the troubled areas.
Around 15 million small arms are said to be in the hands of various militias and civilians in Somalia.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf has asked the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, Africa at large, Arab states and the rest of the world including Indian Ocean countries to help the new government to reverse the tide of lawlessness and instability and bring about peace and security to the Horn of Africa country.
But Yusuf has vowed that despite rampant insecurity and threatsto resist peacekeepers in the Somali capital, the exiled government will relocate to Mogadishu.
Mogadishu has been awash in a sea of anarchic violence for 14 years since the 1991 ouster of Somali strongman Mohamed Siad Barreturned the Horn of Africa nation into a patchwork of fiefdoms ruled by violent warlords.
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