03/08/08 (B459) Press TV – Un Commandant de la région basse du Shabelle affirme que la région n’a aucun lien avec le Président du GNT, en réponse à la décision de ce dernier de mettre à l’écart un nombre significatif d’officiers de Police / Somali commander rejects dismissal (En Anglais)

The deputy police commander of the Lower Shabelle claims the region has no links with the government of Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf.

« We were elected by the residents of the region. Lower Shabelle’s regional authorities have no connection with the Somali transitional federal government, » Nuriye Ali Farah told reporters Friday, according to Press TV correspondent in Somalia.

His remarks come in response to the Somali government decision to dismiss a number of high-ranking police commanders, including Farah and police chief Ali Ganey Aden.

The government has accused them of supporting fighters who launch attacks against the US-backed Ethiopian forces. The two have refused to step down from their posts.

Farah charged Yusuf’s government with fueling instability in Lower Shabelle, the second most populous region in Somalia.

« They have tried to force people to leave the region. We have lost our confidence in the government, » he added.

Local people have told our correspondent that Farah and Aden have helped bring order to the region and protected civilians from Mogadishu Mayor, Mohammad Dheere’s militia.

Dheere controls a large contingent of militia that has been fighting alongside the Ethiopian troops, who are said to be responsible for the death of hundreds of civilians in the war-battered country.

The mayor was sacked by Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein for ‘failing to bring peace and stability to the capital and lack of competence in administration’. However, he was later reinstated by Yusuf as mayor and governor of Mogadishu.

Dheere joined the government after US-backed Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia in 2006 and overthrew the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). Thousands of civilians have been killed and at least one million people have been displaced since the ouster of UIC out of Mogadishu.