Madobe denies role in Kismayu fighting
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
THE
president of Somalia’s new autonomous region of Jubaland has blamed
some unnamed people in the federal government based in Mogadishu for
the resurgence of violence in the port city of Kismayu.
Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed Islam, popularly known as Ahmed Madobe, who
was meeting his supporters at a Nairobi hotel yesterday, said the
officials in the Somalia government are out to portray his
administration as weak and unable to govern the new state. Somalia’s
federal constitution says two or more regions that meet requirements
can form a state within a new federal system. In an election held on
May 15, delegates voted for Madobe as the Jubaland’s first President
and General Abdullahi Sheikh Ismail as Vice President. Kismayu, is
the capital city of the new state and was considered a strong- hold
of terrorist group al Shabaab prior to Kenya Defence Forces’ takeover
last September.
Madobe refuted claims that his administration is comprised only of
members of his clan. The recent insecurity in Kismayu has been
attributed to clan fighting. “My election was an initiative of the
people of Jubaland through their own resources at the Kismayu
University and the delegates were picked by all the clans in the
south,” Madobe said through a translator.
Meanwhile, the president of the federal states of Somalia Hassan
Sheikh Mohamud yesterday called for an immediate end to the fighting
in Kismayu.
