Somalia: Former Mogadishu Governor slams government as powerless

14 Nov 14, 2009 - 6:54:01 AM

Former Mogadishu mayor who was also the Governor of Somalia’s embattled Banadir region has lambasted the fragile Transition Somali government over its ineffectiveness to control the war-torn country.

Speaking in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, Mohammed Omar Habeb also known as Mohammed Dhere said the Somali government, which is under the protection of African Union Peacekeeping forces, is only controlling few blocks of restive Mogadishu with the rest of the country remaining under the hands of militant groups.

“You can’t call yourself a government while hiding under AMISOM. The Federal Government is required to control the whole regions and stop hiding behind the peacekeeping forces,” he said.

“Whenever Somali leaders are in the country, they must be guarded by AMISOM. This is not a leadership. They should seek the comfort of their people.”

Mohammed Dhere said that the former Somali government led by then Abdullahi Yussuf was much competence as it used to control some regions compared to the current one led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed which does not have even a single region under its authority.

He said Somalis could solve their problems themselves without any foreign interference, saying Ethiopian invasion in 2007 failed to recapture the whole the country.

Mohammed Dhere said his stay in Nairobi is because of security reasons, promising to return to politics once the country is relatively stable.

The former Mayor was ousted from the office in early 2009 over claims that he misused the office, leading to his arrest by Ethiopian forces for allegedly planning to wage war against the government.

His predecessor Mohamed Osman Dhagahtur also left the office recently over his administration failure to root our insurgency in the capital.

The current Mogadishu administration led by Engineer Abdirisaq Mohamed Nur has promised to eradicate insecurity and poverty in Mogadishu and its environ.

The war-ravaged Somali capital became ghost city after thousands of families fled on May following the rebels’ deadly onslaught on the fragile UN-backed transition government.

Somalia has lacked an effective central government since the ousting of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.