Hiiraan Online
Friday December 18, 2015
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BELEDWEYNE (HOL) – Somalia’s government has deployed troops in the central Somali town of Beledweyne to monitor a ceasefire between two warring clans following deadly clashes that killed at least 15 people, officials said Thursday.
The fighting erupted on Sunday after the two militiamen from Galje’el and Jajele clans who fought for control of land and pastureland before again clashed in the town which is the provincial capital of Hiiraan region, leading to street battles involving battlewagons and
militiamen.
Leaders from the two clans signed a peace deal brokered by Somali government minsters on Wednesday, agreeing to pull militiamen out of battlefields to avoid further clashes.
Somalia’s security minister Abdirizak Omar Mohamed and Mohamed Mukhtar Ibrahim, Ministry of Mineral Resources and Petroleum who led the efforts aimed at ending the violence have descried the development as ‘progress’, calling the two sides to observe the ceasefire deal.
“The two sides agreed to pull their troops back to the outskirts of the town and pledged observing the ceasefire accordingly.” Abdirizak
Omar told reporters.
Clan rivalry and civil unrest started in the horn of Africa after warlords overthrew the central government in 1991, leading to a perpetual civil strife that killed thousands of Somalis.
According to Somali officials, having clan militiamen still armed in the horn of Africa nations which is recovering from decades of war is a primary source of insecurity and threatens the relative stability restored after the ouster of Islamist militants from large parts
across the country.
The deal was reached after mediations by local elders who held talks with the two sides to hammer out their dispute.
Traditional elders have played major roles in keeping traditional conflict management mechanisms during the civil war and applied customary laws that served as the basis for negotiated settlements, and clan-based blood-payment groups serve as a deterrent to armed violence.