Anxiety prompting exodus to countryside

Worry over possible US attacks on Somalia has prompted an exodus from urban areas to the countryside for safety reasons, a senior official of Somalia's Transitional National Government (TNG) told IRIN on Monday.

"There is mounting worry in people's minds over possible attacks," said Dahir Shaykh Muhammad, the TNG interior minister. "Since December last year, many people have been sending their families from urban areas to the countryside for safety reasons."

He said the situation had been exacerbated by media speculation over imminent attacks. "It is hard for ordinary people to differentiate between what is fact and what is not. One day we are told that an attack is imminent, and the next day that it is not," Dahir told IRIN.

Hashi Olad, a Mogadishu resident, told IRIN he had sent his own family to the countryside in case of attack. "I am hearing this talk about ships and aircraft from all over Somalia, so I decided to let the children go until it becomes clear what will happen," he said.

Dahir reiterated that reports of the existence of camps in Somalia belonging to the Islamist al-Qaeda or al-Ittihad organisations in Somalia were false. "Very few people in Somalia had heard of al-Qaeda before 11 September," he said. On the question of al-Ittihad, Dahir maintained that the organisation had existed in the early 1990s, but was now a "spent force". "Al-Ittihad may have been a force to reckon with in the 90s, but today it no longer exists as a credible force," he said, adding that it no longer posed a security threat to anyone.

Dahir, however, admitted there might be individuals still in Somalia who may have had links with foreign organisations, but "these can be easily apprehended if we have their names".

The solution to the problem of Somalia did not consist of mounting attacks similar to those carried out in Afghanistan, but in disarming and demobilising the large numbers of militia in the country, he stated. "These are the ones who pose a threat to Somalia and to its neighbours," Dahir stressed. "If the US and the international community are serious about fighting terrorism, then they should help the TNG achieve full reconciliation and disarmament and demobilisation."