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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Sep 06 2010 - 16:44:09 EDT
President Sharif fires military chief after missing weapons scandal
Sep 6, 2010 - 9:12:19 AM
The president of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) Sheikh
Sharif Ahmed fired the country's top military chief Monday due to
allegations that he 'sold weapons' illegally, Radio Garowe reports.
According to inside sources, Gen. Mohamed Ghelle Kahiye was accused by TFG
President Sharif of being "responsible" for tons of weapons missing from the
government's military facilities in Mogadishu.
http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/uploads/2/shsharif11_7.jpg
TFG President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed
"The President fired the military chief and several subordinates, after a
scandal surfaced linking him [Gen. Kahiye] directly to tons of weapons
missing from military facilities," said a senior military official in
Mogadishu speaking on condition of anonymity.
Government investigators found that Gen. Kahiye and a number of his staff
and subordinates were involved in the missing weapons scandal, which
included reports that the weapons were sold to anti-government forces, such
as Al Shabaab militants.
Since President Sharif's election in early 2009, the U.S. government has
provided direct military aid to the TFG by donating tons of military
equipment to the besieged interim government in Mogadishu, backed by more
than 6,500 African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM).
Mogadishu's residents have often accused AMISOM troops of shelling civilian
areas, a development Al Shabaab and other militants have exploited to turn
the public against the government and its AMISOM allies.
President Sharif is expected to appoint a new military chief soon, the
sources added.
Meanwhile, hundreds of TFG troops in the few areas under government control
have mutinied due to "nonpayment of salaries," according to local reports.
Residents said TFG troops stopped the flow of traffic along several roads
including the strategic Maka al Mukarama Road that connects the presidential
palace Villa Somalia to the city's airport, which is a major base for AMISOM
peacekeepers.
The troops withdrew to their bases later Monday, but President Sharif has
not spoken publicly about the mutiny.
Somalia's interim government, created in 2004 and renewed in 2009, has
failed to bring law and order to Mogadishu. Much of southern Somalia remains
firmly in the hands of Al Shabaab and allied militants, like Hizbul Islam.
The Islamist groups, some of whom are affiliated with Al Qaeda, have vowed
to continue the insurgency that began in 2007 until they overthrow the
Western-backed TFG and install an Islamic government in Mogadishu.
In northern Somalia, the sub-national governments of Somaliland and Puntland
function independent of Mogadishu and have brought a measure of security and
governance to the regions they administer.
Somalia's last effective national government collapsed in 1991, setting of a
civil war and dividing the country deeply along clan lines to date.
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