Hiiraan Online
Friday, June 03, 2011
Defense minister Abdihakim Mohamud and his internal affairs counterpart Abdishakur Sheikh said that the local police have started conducting an operation to crackdown illegal fire arms within the settlements of the capital.
"We have started an operation in Mogadishu conducted by the police and the military to net illegal arms. And we will detain anybody found carrying weapons in the city” said defense minister Mohamud
“We are asking the public to take advice and be warned that we do not allow illegal arms within the city and anybody who carries weapons violates law and order”
The two ministers who were speaking to the local press have also asked unscrupulous businessmen who deal with the selling of weapons particular in the crowded Bakara market to be warned against their illegal activities.
"It is illegal doing that line of business in the city, anybody found engaged in such illegal trade then the law will take its course” said the minister for internal affairs Abdishakur Sheikh. “We urge the people to help the government in cleaning the city from firearms”
The defense minister said following an operation conducted yesterday by the local police force, they have netted a number of persons carrying arms and ammunition. According to ministers the suspects will be arraigned in court.
The crackdown by the TFG to clean Mogadishu from weapons in the hands of the local people comes at a time when the besieged authority is battling with insurgency groups particularly in the capital where an ongoing military battle worsened the already fragile security situation.
The TFG under former immediate President Abdullahi Ahmed Yusuf signed the Nairobi Protocol on the control of illegal arms and light weapons after a ministerial meeting of the member states held in Nairobi on 21-22 June 2005.
Despite an arms embargo also imposed in 1992 by the international community, Somalia remains a key market for illegal small arms and light weapons for the Horn of Africa countries. The lack of a central government for the past 20 years has meant no government control over the illegal importation, acquisition and disposal of arms.