Clean-up of unexploded ordnance begins

Military officials from the Transitional National Government (TNG) have begun the process of removing unexploded ordnance (UXO), a senior military official told IRIN on Wednesday. An explosion of one such item, at the old air defence base in Mogadishu, killed scores of people last month. Gen Abdi'aziz Ali Barre, one of the officers engaged in the task, said about 40 items had been destroyed since 22 October. However, the operation was being rendered difficult by lack of proper disposal equipment, he said. "We are dealing with material that is both toxic and radioactive. We have people who know this stuff, but we don't have protective gear, nor do we have the proper equipment," Abdi'aziz Ali told IRIN.

Another problem faced by the authorities is lack of proper records. "No one knows how many of these missiles we are looking for," Abdi'aziz Ali said. Some of the ordnance was destroyed in the UN operations in Somalia in the 1990s, but squatters living in the old base were reportedly hiding components of what remained, "believing that they may be of commercial value", he added. He warned that fuel from the Soviet-era surface to air missiles "is poisonous, and can contaminate both the air and the ground, if it escapes", and appealed to the public not to handle any components from such items. Abdi'aziz Ali appealed to agencies experienced in disposing of UXO to help in removing this menace.