By Abukar Albadri Jan 5, 2007, 16:13 GMT
Mogadishu - The 72-hour ultimatum of Somalia's Ethiopian- backed Prime Minister Ali Gedi for the people of Mogadishu to turn in their weapons has expired - and now prices for guns are surging.
Gedi is insisting that the process of collecting peoples' weapons will go peacefully, claiming that his government had reached agreements with major business figures and warlords who hold more than 50 per cent of the weapons in the Somalian capital.
Gedi said the government would focus on collecting heavy weapons, such as trucks mounted with heavy guns, mortars, artillery pieces and armoured personnel vehicles.
But in the Bakara Gun Market on a muddy street lined with kiosks made of rusted iron and wood, there are number of arms traders daring to sell such items as AK47 rifles, a Russian belt-fed machine gun, grenades and other weapons - and prices are rising.
One arms dealer, Mohamed Osoble, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that his business had dropped during the first three days after Ethiopian troops entered Mogadishu.
But starting Thursday customers were returning again.
'The people are buying F1 bombs and other hand grenades, and they also want pistols and AK47s,' Osoble said. 'The price of an AK47 was 140 dollars on Wednesday and it reached 260 dollars on Thursday.'
The response of Mogadishu's residents to the weapons handover appeal was a clear message to Gedi that the transitional government has yet to capture the hearts of the people in the capital city.
By Friday, it had become apparent that businesses and the major clans were reluctant to give up their guns until they are assured protection and peace, while the average resident remained sceptical about the government's alliance with Ethiopia.
'There are two reasons I believe government lost the support of the people,' said Ali Akhwan, a political analyst in Mogadishu.
'First they don't have any impact on the public, and second they are backed by Ethiopia,' he said.
There doubts and worries among the people, especially those belonging to the dominant Hawiye clan in the city, that they would be vulnerable to other clans if they disarmed.
Members of the ethnic Ayr sub-clan of militant Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys are mainly the ones buying arms. They are afraid that the Ethiopian-backed government is targeting them because they had given shelter to Aweys and the rest of his group.
Hufane Qorleh, an ethnic Ayr clan member said, 'I have a gun that I will never turn over because Gedi wants to take our guns and make us vulnerable to the rest of the people.
'If I don't get a way to protect myself I will try to use the tactics the ... al Qaeda leaders are urging,' he added. 'I will commit suicide bombing and violent attacks.'
Some people are worried about the prospect of government forces backed by Ethiopian troops starting a door-to-door search for arms.
Naima Ameen, a housewife in the Hawlwadag district in Mogadishu, said 'I am worried that the troops will commit robbery or rape during the searches. We don't have guns, but I am afraid we will be subject to abuses.'
The government is still insisting it would begin the weapons search on Saturday.
But there are growing fears about a return to the clan violence that had largely stopped during the six months of Islamic rule in Mogadishu. Now former US-backed warlords who were ousted from the city by Islamic courts are returning back to their old positions.
The return of the warlords with the Ethiopian forces is an alarming prospect for Mogadishu's residents. And there is tension in the hot, dusty city as people await the government's first steps toward collecting their weapons.
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