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Somali Police Launch Operation to Restore Rule of Law in Capital
The Somali police Wednesday rounded up more than 50 bandits in their first major operation in ten years in the country's capital Mogadishu to restore the rule of law in the city.
Over 2,000-strong police force supported by more than 45 battle wagons took control of the key strategic junctions in the capital and forcefully opened roads illegally inhabited by small business owners.
"Unless all roads are open and accessible for the policemen, the threat of insecurity will exist," Commander of Mogadishu's police force Colonel Abdi Hassan Awaleh Qeybdid said.
He noted that the operation was ordered by the supreme committee for national security chaired by Prime Minister Ali Khalif Gallaydh.
The commanders said his forces have now got the mandate to fight all kinds of banditry in the capital and to restore the rule of law.
More than 50 bandits have been arrested in the operation started this morning, Police spokesman Mohamed Yussuf Omar said.
During the operation, the police chased away militiamen who used to extort money from the public buses at several junctions, and also foiled four of five vehicle-jacking operations by outlawed militiamen while the fifth is still being pursued, the spokesman said.
Deputy Minister of Information Ali Mohamed Arraleh said that his government has now decided it is time to take drastic measures against banditry in the capital.
"The government has allocated the highest budget for the security," he said, stressing "we will no longer stand the banditry and this operation will continue until Mogadishu is safe for the children to go to school and the businessmen to exercise their business without fear."
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