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Mogadishu , The Kill Zone : Yalaxow and Radical Islamic Courts vowed to resist change

Ali Bahar

This is not the first time he has drawn attention to himself, but Yalaxow, one of Mogadishu's notorious warlords, vowed to keep Mogadishu “ The Kill Zone” it has been for years now.He vowed not to cooperate with the African Union (AU) in its attempt in bringing African troops to secure Mogadishu . For all the enough and apparent reasons that the AU, or the world for that matter, has agreed to send troops in order to save Mogadishu from the grip of Yalaxow and his likes, Yalahow contends that the foreign troops will bring AIDS to Mogadishu. Give me break! Will you?

 

Lessons From Somalia's Civil War

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The problem is made worse by the fact that the warlords almost never had much of a reason to fear suffering the consequence of their fondness for studied duplicity. Instead, in the hitherto polarized Somali society, warlords often wore their most egregious behavior as patches of honor before their respective constituencies to cultivate tough guy images.
Golaha Wasiirada DFKG ee Somalia
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Epilogue to Puntland's Election and A Farewell To M.C. Xaashi

In the early hours of Saturday morning, on January 8, 2005, a historic democratic process was set in motion in the Somali Regional State of Puntland. In this process, a retired army General, General Cade Muuse Boqor was voted in to assume the presidency for the coming five yeas.

 

 

 

 

Warlord Yalaxow Should not be Allowed to Derail Efforts to Pacify Mogadishu

WardheerNews Editorial

Feb. 7, 2005

The notorious Mogadishu warlord-turned-Minister of commerce, Al Haji Muse Yalaxow, stirred the pot when he, in an interview with

Muse Sudi Yalaxow Wasiirka Ganacsiga

the BBC Somali program, on February 4, 2005, said, “African Union troops must not deploy in Somalia because they may take power and spread AIDS.” He said this in response to a proposal that president Cabdullahi Yusuf and 38 of his 47 cabinets approved. If implemented, this proposal would bring 5,000 to 7,000 troops to help stabilize Somalia. As AFP reported, this proposal would soon be presented to the country's fledgling parliament for a final approval.

Muse Sudi Yalaxow, a charlatan Mogadishu warlord, accused of several terrorist kidnappings and murders, is set out to derail the AU proposal. He surprised everyone with his comments of accusing AU troops as carriers of the deadly pandemic AIDS who could potentially spread their disease among Somalis.

He also said that his devastated country does not need outside economic assistance. Instead, he proudly and nostalgically called upon Somalis to re-institute Siad Barre's relic economic strategy of “self-help” program. This program-fashioned after the North Korea's isolationist and forced labor strategy, rooted intellectually in Lenin's New Economic Program (NEP) - was widely utilized in Somalia during the reign of the late dictator at a higher cost to the society.

It is incomprehensible that a member of the president's cabinet would derail and sabotage the president's effort to bring law and order to Mogadishu, a city devastated by inter-clan war for the last 15 years. To this, the Federal Transitional Goverments (TFG) spoke's person and minister of information, Mr. Sifir, is quoted as referring to Yalaxow's undoubtedly ill-advised comment as “ill-informed.”

Ill-informed he is. But, fool Yalaxow is not. He intentionally fired his comments at an opportune time – when a high delegation of the government, including him, was sent to Mogadishu as part of a comprehensive fact finding mission prior to the relocation of the government to Mogadishu. Mr. Yalaxow cleverly did not speak his mind in Nairobi, Kenya, for he probably would not have gotten away with it, but waited to do so until he returned to his backyard turf – Mogadishu.

Mogadishu is the same city where Yalaxow tactfully caused and engineered a slow death of the Carta-established government headed by Cabdiqaasim. By utilizing a combination of local tribal gangs and loosely allied religious fanatics, Yallaxow succeeded to confine Cabdiqaasim and his cabinet members to few bullet-shattered hotel rooms to face their ultimate, albeit slow death.

Yalaxow's campaign against the fledgling TFG is an unequivocal declaration of war on Cabdullahi Yusuf, his government and the AU as well as the rest of the world that wants to help Somalia. In so many ways, Yalaxow inched towards announcing his lordship over Mogadishu. His inflammatory comments represent a warlord's ostensible message that he is the real master, not the president, of this troubled city called Mogadishu.

The government of Cabullaahi Yusuf and prime minister Geeddi should stop appeasing Mr. Yalaxow and come up with an effective strategy to deal with him or any other future turf warlords. Such a strategy must include at minimum the following:

•  The government should ignore, while fully aware of the potential danger he presents, Yalaxow's threat and press ahead with its plan of deploying AU troops.

•  If Yalaxow or similar warlords disrespectfully defy the governments policies or try to sabotage, the president and the prime minster must have the guts to dismiss them and ask them to vacate their positions.

•  There must be a two-pronged security strategy towards Mogadishu:

I. The president and his cabinet, with the support of AU troops, must overwhelm Yalaxow and his religious zealots by sheer military power.

 
II. A back-up capital city that can serve as the seat of the government, in the event that Yalaxow and his religious zealots mount a challenge, must be designated. Cabdullaahi Yusuf should not let himself and his government become the unsuspecting virtual prisoners of Yalaxow and his gangs as has happened to his predecessor.

•  The TFG must quickly proceed lobbying neighboring governments and the United Nations to jointly draft a resolution to charge Yalaxow and similar warlords with crimes against humanity. Holding the future and welfare of the Somali people by the brute force of a warlord constitutes crimes against humanity.

•  The TFG must put forward to international community, the United States in particular, a clear picture (intelligence report) of extremists and religious fanatics in Mogadishu so as to seek real and overwhelming help to destroy all the elements who have caused Mogadishu and south Somalia all the familiar and unspeakable havoc.

The TFG is to be commended for its formal approval of the deployment of African troops in Somalia and we expect the transitional parliament to do likewise. WardheerNews however, urges president Cabdullaahi Yusuf, while moving cautiously on the sensitive issue of clan politics, to avoid discord and promote harmony, he should also demonstrate strong and effective leadership in the exercise of his constitutional powers to protect and enhance the authority of the government in the fulfillment of its mandate, Particularly in the crucial area of peace and security.

Those who defiantly challenge the decisions of the government or engage in deliberate acts of sabotage or intransigence should be held fully accountable and subjected to puitive measures.

Equally, WardheerNews wishes to express its deep appreciation to the countries of the region, members of AU and IPF (International Partners Forum) for the collaboration and support for the reconciliation of Somalia. It should, however, be noted that the TFG is currently facing a difficult and challenging transition. Now that the TFG has finally approved the deployment of the AU Peace Support mission, we strongly believe that IGAD, in cooperation with the AU, should act expeditiously in the implementation of the Abuja Summit decision. Any delay in the enforcement of that decision will jeopardize the relocation of the government to Somalia and in turn embolden Yalaxow and other warlords.

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