Mogadishu more secure, says Speaker

The Speaker of Somalia's transitional parliament, Sharif Hassan Shaykh Aden, said on Tuesday that security in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, had improved and hailed faction leaders for trying to unify their forces under one command.

"I am amazed at how different things are from the way they were in February," Aden told IRIN. "There are less militia and less technicals [vehicles with mounted guns] on the roads than the last time."

On 14 May, the faction leaders who control most of Mogadishu, announced that they had begun integrating their forces and encamping them in two camps outside the city.

Aden said that he had visited the camps. "It is a good beginning and a big step in the improvement of security in the city," he told IRIN.

Aden arrived in Mogadishu on 15 May with some 30 members of parliament. His departure from Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, where the interim government is based, followed a controversial session of the transitional parliament held in Nairobi by a group of MPs in his absence on 11 May.

The MPs debated two contentious motions: the proposed deployment of peacekeeping troops from neighbouring countries, and the temporary relocation of the government to the towns of Jowhar and Baidao, in southern and south-central Somalia, respectively.

The motions are opposed by powerful former faction leaders and current cabinet ministers, such as Minister of National Security Muhammad Qanyare Afrah, Minister of Commerce Muse Sudi Yalahow, Minister of Housing and Public Works Usman Hasan Ali Atto and Minister of Religious Affairs Omar Muhammad "Finish".

Interim Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Ali Muhammad Gedi, however, have said the government cannot function in Mogadishu until the city is pacified and secured.

The speaker said the parliament had held a meeting in Mogadishu on Tuesday.

"Today's [Tuesday] meeting is a general one and does not have a specific agenda," he said. "We will discuss issues of concern to the Somali people but would not involve voting."

Some 100 members of the 275-strong parliament are currently in Mogadishu.

"Whatever we do today [Tuesday] will be to advance the reconciliation of Somalis and not to create impediments and obstacles to bring people together," Aden said. "We are not talking about replacing anyone."

He urged the international community to help the Somali people now. "We need their assistance now in disarming and demobilising these young men [militias] and get the guns off Mogadishu streets," he said. "This is the perfect time for a positive intervention."

Meanwhile, government spokesman Abdirahaman Dinari confirmed that Prime Minister Gedi had sacked his deputy and information minister, Mohamud Abdullahi Jama.

Dinari would not elaborate on the grounds for the dismissal of Jama, who is better known as "Sifir". "The prime minister has the legal power to appoint and dismiss ministers at his pleasure," the spokesman said.