Government appoints strongmen after Mogadishu fighting

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Government appoints strongmen after Mogadishu fighting

1 hour, 58 minutes ago

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - The Somali government has appointed
two strongmen to top jobs in Mogadishu, officials said on
Sunday, after battles with rebels that have killed at least 1,300
people since February.

Abdi Hassan Awale, popularly known as Qaybdiid, and Mohamed
Dheere -- both former warlords -- take over as national police
boss and mayor of the shell-scarred capital respectively.

-snip-

Qaybdiid was one of the last of a group of U.S.-backed warlords
to surrender to Islamists who seized the capital last year before
being ousted by allied Somali-Ethiopian troops.

Dheere was the self-appointed local governor whose forces
secured Jowhar, 90 km (55 miles) north of Mogadishu, as a
temporary base for the interim government in 2005, after it was
born out of tortuous peace talks in neighboring Kenya.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070429/wl_nm/somalia_conflict_dc_49

[bemildred]

1. LOL. "former warlords". That's hysterical. nt