Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf has begun recruiting members for a security force to protect his new administration, despite angry opposition from powerful warlords in his Cabinet, officials said yesterday. "It (recruitment) is officially starting today all over the country," said presidential spokesman Yusuf Ismail Baribari. "It is a friendly force that will protect the civilians and embark on social needs such as road construction and water supply."
Recruits will be screened and trained before they are enlisted in the police force, prisons or the army, he said. Yusuf's Transitional Federal Government marks the 14th attempt to re-establish government in lawless Somalia since 1991, when a coalition of warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and the country descended into anarchy. Formed after peace talks last year, the faction-riven interim administration was initially based in Kenya. Yusuf returned to Somalia on July 1, basing his government temporarily in Jowhar, 90 kms (56 miles) north of the capital, Mogadishu, which remains too dangerous. He has said he will recruit and train militiamen to defend his government pending the arrival of regional peacekeepers. But warlords in Mogadishu, some of them government members, have threatened to attack Jowhar if Yusuf takes troops there. |