By CHRIS TOMLINSON,
Associated Press Writer
Friday, December 29, 2006
There are dozens of clan factions in the capital, each making demands on the government and each a potential spoiler, capable of extreme violence if ignored. Alliances can also shift dramatically in just a few city blocks, depending on which clan controls the street.
But he acknowledged that he will need the support of Ethiopian troops for some time to come.
Ethiopia will not be the first foreign power to try to install a government in Somalia since clan warlords drove out dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, plunging the country into chaos and sparking a famine that left 500,000 people dead.
Aided‘s son, Hussein, is now the government‘s national security minister in a Cabinet where positions are assigned according to clan. Despite efforts to create a government where every clan had an equal voice, some warlords prevented the internationally recognized administration from taking power because they refused to settle for anything less than the presidency.
"The presence of Ethiopian troops in Somalia is illegal, it is against the charter of the transitional government," he told the British Broadcasting Corporation‘s Somali service. "Somalis should resist against Ethiopian troops."
Gedi will need to reshuffle his Cabinet and make concessions to bridge the divides in the country. But persuading Somali leaders to continue to cooperate when they don‘t get what they want has always been a problem, even though everyone shares the same language, religion and culture.
Some elements of the movement, though, espoused a harsh vision of Islam at odds with Somali culture. Their departure in the past week was greeted in many areas with celebratory blasting of the Western music the clerics had banned.
Now Meles and Somalia‘s President Abdullahi Yusuf both say they will pursue Aweys and his remaining 3,000 fighters to the southern town of Kismayo where they have retreated. Four suspected terrorists, wanted by the U.S. for involvement in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, are reportedly among them.
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Chris Tomlinson, AP chief of bureau for East Africa, has reported on Somalia and the Horn of Africa for six years.
Source: AP, Dec 29, 2006