Somalia: Former Mogadishu Governor slams government as powerless

Former Mogadishu mayor who was also the Governor of
Somalia's  embattled Banadir region has lambasted the
fragile Transition Somali government over

its ineffectiveness to control the war-torn country.

Speaking in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, Mohammed Omar

Habeb also known as Mohammed Dhere said the Somali government, which

is under the protection of African Union Peacekeeping forces, is only

controlling few blocks of restive Mogadishu with the rest of the country

remaining under the hands of militant groups.

"You can't call yourself a government while hiding under AMISOM. The

Federal Government is required to control the whole regions and stop hiding

behind the peacekeeping forces," he said.

"Whenever Somali leaders are in the country, they must be guarded by AMISOM.

This is not a leadership. They should seek the comfort of their people."

Mohammed Dhere said that the former Somali government led by then Abdullahi

Yussuf was much competence as it used to control some regions compared to

the current one led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed which does not have even a

single region under its authority.

He said Somalis could solve their problems themselves without any foreign

interference, saying Ethiopian invasion in 2007 failed to recapture the

whole the country.

Mohammed Dhere said his stay in Nairobi is because of security reasons,

promising to return to politics once the country is relatively stable.

The former Mayor was ousted from the office in early 2009 over claims that

he misused the office, leading to his arrest by Ethiopian forces for

allegedly planning to wage war against the government.

His predecessor Mohamed Osman Dhagahtur also left the office recently over

his administration failure to root our insurgency in the capital.

The current Mogadishu administration led by Engineer Abdirisaq Mohamed Nur

has promised to eradicate insecurity and poverty in Mogadishu and its environ.

The war-ravaged Somali capital became ghost city after thousands of families

fled on May following the rebels' deadly onslaught on the fragile UN-backed

transition government.

Somalia has lacked an effective central government since the ousting of

Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.