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"Pro-government" elders arrested by RRA

    NAIROBI

    Seven elders of the Rahanweyn clan in Bay and Bakol regions, southern Somalia, were arrested by the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA) on Monday, a senior RRA official has confirmed to IRIN. The elders were arrested in Bur-Hakaba, about 145 km southwest of Mogadishu, Muhammad Ali Adan Qalinle, who is also the governor of the southern town of Baidoa, said. Qalinle described the arrested elders as being in the pay of the of "Arta faction", a reference to the Transitional National Government in Mogadishu. The seven who were returning from Mogadishu, were in RRA-controlled areas without permission, and intended "to foment division and confusion" within the Rahanweyn clan, Qalinle told IRIN. The elders were now being held in Baidoa town, 240 km southwest of Mogadishu. They had not been charged and whether they would be brought before a court had not yet been decided, said Qalinle.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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