January 1, 2009
Garowe – Ethiopian troops have led an operation to arrest the former mayor of Somalia’s national capital, Radio Garowe reports.
Ex-Mayor Mohamed “Dheere” Omar was detained near KM4 junction, where African Union peacekeepers are stationed.
Ahmed Tahliil, one of Mohamed Dheere’s deputies, was with him when a joint security force of Ethiopian and Somali soldiers stormed in.
“There was a conversation between Mohamed Dheere and the Ethiopian commander, then he [Mohamed Dheere] was detained,” said a witness who did not want to be named.
The deputy, Ahmed Tahliil, was not arrested. It was not immediately clear why Mogadishu’s former mayor was arrested or where he was taken.
But the arrest comes a day after Ethiopian troops ransacked through Mohamed Dheere’s Mogadishu home, with reports saying Prime Minister Nur “Adde” Hassan Hussein issued the order.
For months, Mohamed Dheere has refused the Prime Minister’s order to surrender his weapons and transfer his home to Mogadishu’s new mayor, Mohamed Osman “Dhagahtur.”
But the situation changed after M r. Abdullahi Yusuf, Mohamed Dheere’s close ally, resigned as Somali president on Monday.
