Galguduud Governor vows to take back central Somalia town

DHUSAMAREB, Somalia, June 10, 2015(Garowe Online)-Galgadud Governor has vowed that Somali government forces will take back strategic central town from moderate Islamist militia amid push for peaceful solution to the standoff over state formation process, Garowe Online reports.

At a news conference, Hussein Ali Weheliye Irfo called the fomenting of violence in stable city set to be cherry-picked as a state capital ‘unfortunate’.

“Rebels seized [the] town not Ahlu Sunna. Ahlu Sunna never attacks peaceful area, and we hope to regain control of Dhusamareb very soon,” Irfo told the media, a day after United Nations envoy to Somalia, Ambassador Nicholas Kay called on warring sides to de-escalate tensions.

Kay on Tuesday urged Ahlu Sunna militias to withdraw and disengage, remarks rebuffed by a spokesman for the paramilitary group Abdinur Mohamed Hussein.

“We have yet to receive [UN envoy] message, but we won’t agree to withdraw,” he said in an interview with Puntland-based independent station, Radio Garowe.

On Sunday, Ahlu Sunna militias seized key army bases and police compound in Galgadud regional capital of Dhusamareb after government forces fled.

As of Tuesday morning, residents reported of fresh military expansion by the paramilitary group which seeks to re-exert authority over Galgadud region.

The group severed ties with the national government at a protest as delegates are gathering for a state formation convention in Adado. 

GAROWE ONLINE