Somalia minister rejects Africa “AIDS” troops

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African Union troops must not deploy in Somalia because they may take power and spread AIDS, a government minister said in remarks published on Friday.

Muse Sudi Yalahow, a prominent Mogadishu warlord and minister of commerce in a Transitional Federal Government (TFG), said the fledgling government formed in the safety of Kenya last year did not need outside help in imposing its authority.

"The African Union wants to seize our country. We are not ready to cooperate with them,” he told journalists in remarks broadcast on HornAfrik radio and printed in newspapers.

“We do not need more AIDS and other diseases they carry.”

Muse Sudi’s remarks echo those of radical Islamist groups in the capital who oppose plans by the 53-nation AU’s east African member states to send in troops to bolster the TFG’s authority.

But Mohamud Abdullahi Jama, TFG Information Minister, told AMN Health that Muse Sudi’s comments on AIDS were ill-informed.

“We have a great regard for the African Union and it is a fact that AIDS is in every country in Africa, although prevalence rates vary. The AU knows that ours is an austere Muslim society. Their troops will be disciplined and remain in their camps and there will be little social interaction.”

Most TFG government officials and legislators have remained in Kenya since the administration was created at peace talks there, arguing that security was so poor back home that it would be imprudent to return without proper security.

Muse Sudi was among a team of lawmakers who flew in from Nairobi to a warm welcome from residents in Mogadishu on Wednesday to start preparations for the return of the TFG, which aims to end 14 years of militia banditry and mayhem.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died from famine and disease since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 plunged the nation into chaos. Militias have carved the country of up to 10 million into a patchwork of fiefdoms.

Parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan plans to return to Mogadishu on Saturday and Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Gedi may soon follow with the rest of his 42-member cabinet.

Officials have yet to give a date for the return of President Abdullahi Yusuf, the top official under a transitional constitution, who is from north-central Somalia and seen as an outsider by many in Mogadishu, a city of one million.

Diplomats say Yusuf, an Ethiopian-backed warlord and former soldier, can only establish legitimacy by returning to Somalia quickly and fostering reconciliation between all factions and interest groups as well as reining in the militias.

Muse Sudi, echoing the views of some of his cabinet colleagues, said Yusuf had no grounds for remaining in Kenya. Yusuf is a strong supporter of bringing in AU troops.

“The president should come to Mogadishu without foreign troops. Our militia are our national forces,” Muse Sudi said. “The president is our president. We are the ones who elected him. He is the President of Somalia and not of some foreign territory.”

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