Abdulkadir Khalif
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Speaking at a press conference in Mogadishu on Sunday, Mr Ahmed Hassan Addow Da'ee, said violent confrontations appear to have become a permanent business for the Transitional Federal Government, Amisom peacekeepers and the al-Shabaab.
African Union (AU) peacekeeping contingents from Uganda and Burundi are among troops trying to restore order in the country.
"The battle for Mogadishu is a commercialised one with government forces doing little and Amisom doing nothing," said Mr Da'ee. "In a war situation, you either win or lose. But in this kind of stalemate, it is the residents that are going to suffer through fires and shells," he added.
Mr Da'ee ordered that the al-Shabaab either capture and rule Somalia or all pro-government forces overwhelm what he called 'the enemy that invaded the country (referring to al-Shabaab and other militia groups).
Mr Da'ee stated that the new Somali government (of Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed) had failed in its plan to capture Mogadishu from al-Shabaab during its first 100 days in office, having already been on duty for 60 days.
"Let's do something substantial or let al-Shabaab rule the country," he said.
It is the first time a government official in Mogadishu expresses frustration on the seemingly endless war in the country.
It is widely believed that al-Shabaab militants and other jihadists would have defeated the TFG if it was not for the presence of the 8,000 AU peacekeepers from Burundi and Uganda.
Source: Daily Monitor