Hiiraan Online Staff
Friday, April 01, 2011
The Somali Government and AMISOM have announced that they will work together to reopen roads to the Bakara Market which has been closed for more than one month, after fierce clashes erupted in Mogadishu's Industrial Road, the only road connecting Bakara Market with the rest of the city.
In a joint press release, Somali minister of internal affairs and homeland Secuitry, Abdishakur Sheikh Hassan Farah, the governor of Mogadishu, Mohamud Ahmed Nur(Tarsan) and AMISOM commander, Nathan Mugisha, told the Somali media that they all agreed to reopen roads to the Bakara Market.
AMISOM spokesman,Barigiye Bahugo, told reporters that AMISOM and the TFG did not close the roads to Bakara Market, but the Alshabab were behind the blocking of the Bakara roads as they dug deep trenches in the middle of the roads.
'' The leaders of the Somali government and AMISOM have decided to help the Somali business community in Mogadishu by immediately reopening all roads under our control to the Bakara Market so that people and vehicles can travel to and from the market'', said AMISOM spakesman, Major Barigiye Bahugo.
Major Bahugo said that people now access the Bakara Market using Aden Ade Road near the Parliament Building, adding that thousands of people travel on this road each day.
However, the AMISOM spokesman acknowledged that heavy transport vehicles can not reach the Bakara Market, and called on the Ashabab to reopen the roads under their control they had closed to traffic.