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Tension Remains High in Somalia's South Town of Baidoa
Tension is still mounting high in Baidoa, a city about 240 kilometers south of Somalia's capital of Mogadishu, over the possible arrival of faction leader Hussein Mohamed Aidid.
Aidid is the current rotating-chairman of the Ethiopian-backed Reconciliation Council, whose members are now meeting in Baidoa for an alleged formulation of a reconciliation process which will then lead to the erection of a representative government for Somalia.
A meeting between the executive committee for the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA) in Biadoa since Tuesday has come to a deadlock with the faction torn apart between those wishing the arrival of Aidid in the town led by RRA chairman, Colonel Hassan Mohamed Shargudud, and those against Aidid's arrival led by Adan Mohamed Nur Soransor, general-audit of the faction.
Soransor, former governor of Bakol region, threatened that whoever tries to bring Aidid in Baidoa will shoulder the consequences.
"The arrival of Hussein Aidid in Baidoa is a moral annihilation for the Rahanwein communities," he said, accusing Aidid of massacre of thousands of Rahanwein civilians in Baidoa between 1995 and 1998 when his militias controlled the region.
"Hussein Aidid's evil behavior against the Rahanwein people is unforgettable and it is in the black pages of the history of our people," Soransor said.
According to reports reaching here on Wednesday, there are three senior Ethiopian military officials in Baidoa lobbying for the arrival of Aidid.
The Ethiopians have worked hard on the establishment of the Reconciliation Council for the factions opposing to the interim government led by Abdiqasim Salad Hassan, which was established last year thanks to the brokering of Djibouti.
The interim government Wednesday once again condemned Ethiopia' s intervention into Somalia's internal affairs.
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