Remarkable turnaround for Mogadishu
Victory In Yusuf?
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf entered Mogadishu on Monday to cap a remarkable turnaround in the capital the Islamists ruled for six months until they were ousted before the New Year, a government source said.
If confirmed, the arrival of Yusuf, protected by his own soldiers plus Ethiopian troops who helped the government drive out the Islamists, would be the 72-year-old veteran soldier's first time in Mogadishu since taking office in 2004.
"The president has arrived in Mogadishu. He is now resting at Nasa Hablod hotel. We are now preparing his house in Villa Somalia, where he will be staying," a government source, who declined to be named, told Reuters.
The bullet-scarred Villa Somalia compound is the former presidential palace of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, whose 1991 ouster as Somalia's last national president in 1991 triggered more than 15 years of anarchy.
Yusuf had stayed out of Mogadishu, where he is an outsider and still has many enemies from his time as warlord based in the semi-autonomous northern Puntland region.
Wow the American equivilant might be like George Bush entering San Francisco. I'm not sure whether it is a good thing to have a hated ex-warlord as a president but I geuss anything beats Sharia law. Come to think of it, the Polosi crowd already think of GWB as a "ex"war-lord. Given the track record at Mogadishu , Yusuf should probably think GWB an ex if looking for help.
Labels: Abdullahi Yusuf, Somalia
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