Somalia’s government will not abandon plans to return from exile and establish itself in the country, a presidential spokesperson said on Tuesday, a day after militias loyal to rival Somali lawmakers fought for control of the town of Baidoa.
Somalia’s transitional government is pursuing a peaceful solution to the conflict between militia loyal to a lawmaker opposing government plans to relocate to the major trading town and another supporting the move, presidential spokesperson Yusuf Mohamed Ismail said.
Ethiopian-backed Somali warlords — now lawmakers — and Ethiopian-backed President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed have suggested setting up the new government in Baidoa and in Jowhar, both about 80km north of Mogadishu, because the capital is too dangerous.
Yusuf has also called for Ethiopian and other regional peacekeepers to protect the new government.
Warlords, lawmakers and other Somali leaders who consider Ethiopia an enemy have rejected both proposals, causing a split among the warlords who took part in the peace process to form the new government. Mediators have said that, while a government was formed, reconciliation efforts have stalled, endangering the peace process.
Militias led by a Somali warlord and lawmaker opposed to the plans took control of Baidoa on March 27. Rival fighters supporting the relocation plan attacked the town on Monday, triggering street battles in which more than a dozen of people were killed.
”The transitional federal government of Somalia will not change at all its relocation plan. It will go ahead,” Ismail said. ”The president, prime minister and leaders of federal institutions are sincerely sorry about what happened, especially for the loss of human lives.”
”There is an ongoing political initiative by the government to pave the way for the administration to relocate temporarily in Baidoa, Jowhar and then Mogadishu,” he said, refusing to provide details, citing the delicate nature of the initiative.
Somalia has been without a central government since clan-based warlords overthrew the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Warlords then turned on each other, plunging the Horn of Africa nation of seven million into anarchy.
Its government, formed in exile in 2004 with hopes of one day leading the country to peace, is opposed by Islamic extremists and some of the dozens of warlords in the country. — Sapa-AP