Friday, January 16, 2009
A local daily, The Standard, reported on Friday that Muhammad Hassan Jima'ale whose documents show he is in charge of Somalia's Gedo region crossed into Mandera town in northeastern Kenya on Tuesday.
Mandera police chief Christopher Odhiambo confirmed the developments, noting that the Somali police chief is the sixth official to flee to Kenya from the volatile region in recent months.
Odhiambo said Jima'ale is being held for his own safety. "We cannot allow him to roam the town because he has expressed fear for his life," said Odhiambo.
The development came as Islamist hardliners from the al Shabaab insurgent group ambushed the departing Ethiopian soldiers and also clashed with other militias in a deepening power struggle between rebel factions.
Reports from Mogadishu say four of the six vacated bases by Ethiopian soldiers in Mogadishu have been taken over by insurgents from different factions, seemingly working together.
Regional analysts have feared the withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops will lead to a power vacuum and fighting between rival Islamist factions.
But at the moment all factions, whether they back the peace process with the government or not, seem to be working together.
Independent reports showed the defector escaped when Al-Shabaab, a Somali rebel group, attacked Garbaharey on Jan. 8 and killed the entire local security team, including local administrators.
The UNHCR Kenya spokesman Emmanuel Nyabera said the agency wants to transfer Jima'ale and his son to one of its refugee campsin Dadaab, located in northeastern Kenya.
Police in Mandera have detained him and his son Muhumed Muhammad Hassan at the police post for interrogation after he entered Kenya through Bulla Hawa.
Odhiambo said the Somali official surrendered to Kenyan authorities on Tuesday after fleeing his native country and requested to meet UNHCR officials.
"We are waiting for them (officials from Dadaab) to come and collect him."
Jima'ale defection came at a time when Western nations and Somalia's neighbours are frustrated with the transitional federal government's inability to take firm control of the war-ravaged country.
Some 16,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict between Somalia's transitional government and the Islamists, and 1 million more have been forced from their homes.
Analysts say Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, one of the architects of the peace deal who has announced his intention to compete in the forthcoming president election is hoping to capitalize on the Ethiopian withdrawal to win support for his presidential candidacy.
Hussein, a former humanitarian worker from Mogadishu and a member of the area's dominant Hawiye clan, has the backing of the six-nation Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) which brokered the agreement that led to the formation of the interim government in 2004.
"Today I want to announce that I am a candidate for the post of president which is expected to be contested soon and whoever wins it should peacefully and democratically run the country," Hussein said.
After the resignation of former president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, a new Somali president is supposed to be elected by January 26.
Source: Xinhua, Jan 16, 2009