The Reporter
Namrud Berhane
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Without the consent of the interim President and the Prime Minister of Somalia he attempted to broker a deal between the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
An offensive by the TFG with the support of Ethiopian troops however cut short his bid over two months ago, as the UIC were ousted from the Somali capital and he was forced to flee.
After some five months of absence, Somalia's Ex-House Speaker, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan, was a subject of discussion amongst lawmakers who convened in Baidowa on Thursday.
According to Somali news agencies, Adan along with 42 other Members of Parliament has established an opposition camp in Eritrea. The dissident group was given 30 days to return to Somalia or be dismissed of their positions.
Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan who is said to have sympathized with the UIC, has insisted that he will not return to Somalia until Ethiopian troops withdrew from the country.
Adan rushed to Mogadishu last year, following the collapsed mediation efforts in Khartoum early in November 2006.
The Deputy Speaker of the Somali Parliament, Osman Elmi Boqorre who on Thursday said that Adan had in a legal and transparent manner been relieved of his authority on January 17, also accused the Ex-speaker of fomenting antagonism between MPs.
On Wednesday, Elmi Boqorre also slammed Eritrea as the "national enemy" of Somalia.
Meanwhile, the TFG has expressed its intention to push ahead with a reconciliation congress that it plans to begin on April 16.
Prime Minister of the TFG, Ali Mohamed Gedi is reported to have said in Nairobi on Tuesday that the congress was designed to unite the various factions, clans and sub-clans in his country.
In a CNN report, Gedi is quoted as having said: "The stakeholders of this congress are from the society. Traditionally, there are elders, women's organizations, business community, youth and sports. They can be part of it."
Responding on the security issues in the capital Mogadishu, Gedi told reporters that his government was trying to cope with the insurgency and added that the residents of the city were growing tired of the situation.
"Obviously, there is community policing in Mogadishu in all its 16 districts," he noted. "The insurgents are trying to throw mortars from somewhere in a mobile team. So the residents are now against them, are not accepting them to throw mortars or any other weapons from their areas."
The Prime Minister who stopped short of giving further details said that the insurgents were being backed by international terrorists.
The latest in a series of major attacks in Mogadishu was mortar shelling of the President's residence where one child was killed and several others were wounded. President Abdulahi Yusuf was in Villa Somalia but was not harmed, according to reports.
On Friday, a bomb blast destroyed two houses in Mogadishu claiming the lives of seven people. Four of those that died were children who were also watching TV. Reportedly, the explosion was caused when children tried to dig out an old land mine.
The United Nation estimates that some 40, 000 residents of the violent ridden city have fled out.
Source: The Reporter, Mar 17, 2007