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Museveni Warns Somalis

New Vision (Kampala)
NEWS
October 16, 2004
Posted to the web October 18, 2004

By Reuben Olita
Nairobi
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has warned Somali warlords that the Inter-
Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) will not allow anyone to disrupt
the Somali peace process and cause anarchy in the country again.
Museveni chairs IGAD, the regional body which sponsored the peace process that
culminated in the election of a president for Somalia after 13 years without a
central government. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was elected by the Somali
transitional parliament sitting in Nairobi, Kenya.
Speaking at Ahmed's swearing-in in Nairobi on Thursday, Museveni said IGAD
would ensure the peace process succeeded.
Present were seven African heads of state and diplomats.
Museveni warned key Somali factional leaders, including Gen. Hirsi Morgan and
Mohammed Aideed,who boycotted the ceremony, that no one would be allowed to
disrupt the Somali peace process.
"IGAD will not allow anyone to mess up the peace in Somalia. If youare not
president, wait for another chance. The same applies to an MP who should wait
for their chance," Museveni said, drawing applause.
Museveni said the peace process proved that Africa could find its own solutions
to its problems. He said Ahmed's swearing-in was a testimony that Africa had
triumphed where the United States failed in 1991. Museveni said the US
intervention instead fuelled the problems.
He appealed to the international community toprovide financial and technical
aid to Somalia.
Museveni said if the aid did not come, African countries should pull their
resources together and help Somalia as they did in the fight against apartheid
in South Africa and in the ouster of Idi Amin.
He said Somalia needed "resources and not mere words" from the international
community to complement aid from within Africa.
Yusuf, a career soldier and politician, took the oath of office in the Somali
language. He was sworn-in by the speaker of the transitional federal parliament
as thousands cheered.
Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki said after Yusuf was sworn-in, "This is the
victory of all Somali people. We are delighted that the people of Somalia have
chosen the path of peace."
The Somali state collapsed in 1991 when Muhammad Siyad Barre was overthrown,
triggering a deadly civil war that saw numerous warlords carve the country into
fiefdoms.

   

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