Somalis Not Ready to Turn Over Weapons

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, right, receives Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf at State House in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2007. Kibaki said that Kenya would not be used as a refuge for people seeking to destabilize governments in the region, noting that Kenya had already beefed up patrols along the border with Somalia. (AP Photo) (AP)

By Wednesday, only a handful of people had heeded Gedi's demand and turned in any weapons. Twenty freelance militiamen turned in 20 small guns and a "technical" _ a truck mounted with machine guns.

"I got tired working for my clan," said Mohamed Mohamud Hassan, the militia's leader. "Now I can work for the nation."

But those arms barely register in Somalia's ocean of guns.

"Nobody wants to totally surrender their weapons," said Sacida Gedi Hassan, a merchant at Bakaara. "If we hand over our weapons, we'll be vulnerable."

Loyan, the police commander, said safety isn't the only reason for disarmament. His forces are so desperate, he said, they will eventually need to commandeer the weapons now hidden away in Mogadishu's homes and businesses.

"During the civil war, the guns spread throughout the country," said Loyan, who returned to Mogadishu last week for the first time since 1991. "Now we just need to find them. We are going to have to use the guns that we collect."

His police force is not up to the task just yet.

"As you can see, these are very old people," Loyan said at the recruitment center, gazing at the rag tag crowd over his wire-rimmed glasses. "Even women are here."

Madino Mohamed Farge, 46, said she's joining the police because she wants a job _ an impossible dream under the Council of Islamic Courts, the radical militia the government chased from the capital and much of southern Somalia.

"Of course I couldn't work under the Islamic courts," she said. "We were hated by them."

The Islamic group's strict interpretation of Islam drew comparisons to the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan, although many Somalis credited the council with bringing a semblance of order to the country.

The Council of Islamic Courts terrified residents into submission with the threat of public executions and floggings. And now that it's on the run, the group is threatening an Iraq-style guerrilla war using fighters they claim are hiding in Mogadishu.

Islamic courts spokesman Abdirahin Ali Mudey suggested this week that his forces might use the abundance of available weaponry to disrupt any attempts to pacify the city.

"Somalia has weapons everywhere, and we are everywhere in the country," he said.

That alarming prospect is yet another reason residents don't want to give up their guns, and even the police commander can understand.

"The people must have confidence they are safe," Loyan said. "Then, I think, they will hand over their weapons."