Mogadishu Mayor Vows to Hit Terrorists

Armed with anti aircraft gun mounted on a lorry, Somali Transitional Federal Government soldiers patrol on the outskirts of the Somali capital Mogadishu, Wednesday, May 2, 2007. Mogadishu's new mayor and one of the country's most feared and ruthless warlords, Mohamed Dheere, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the "time of terrorists is over." (AP Photo/ Mohamed Abdulle Hassan Siidi) (Mohamed Abdulle Hassan Siidi - AP)

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- The time of terrorists is over in Somalia's capital, the troubled city's new mayor said Wednesday.

Mohamed Dheere, who spent 16 years as a warlord struggling for power in this Horn of Africa nation, was named mayor this week. The move appeased his clan _ and that may have as much to do with the calm of recent days as any victory over insurgents, who the government calls terrorists.

Clan rivalries and the insurgency by Islamic militants have fueled Mogadishu's recent bloodshed, which aid groups say killed 1,670 people between March 12 and April 26 and sent more than 340,000 of the city's 2 million residents fleeing for safety.

As a member of a powerful clan that had complained of being ignored by the interim government, Dheere will be able to call on fellow clansmen to pacify Mogadishu.

"We will crack down on terrorists and bandits in the capital," he told The Associated Press.

Dheere, who has long cooperated with the CIA in grabbing al-Qaida operatives in the capital, promised that the "time of terrorists is over," saying he would keep the city quiet by using 20 police vehicles to patrol the streets "day and night."

"These police forces will arrest every suspected terrorist or bandits," he said.

While his readiness to fight Islamic militants makes him appealing to the United States and neighboring Ethiopia, which support the acting Somali government, his use of clan warfare and indiscriminate violence while a warlord makes him unpopular with many Somalis.

Still, in a land with a dizzying array of clan alliances, Dheere's appointment by interim President Abdullahi Yusuf may be a big step in appeasing clan interests that have driven much of the fighting.

Elders of Dheere's Hawiye clan, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, told AP recently that they did not necessarily support the Islamic extremists fighting the government. But unless Yusuf shared power, they said, there was no reason to expect them to exert their authority to quell the violence.

Yusuf seems to have listened. In recent days, Dheere and two other Hawiye members _ all former warlords _ have been listed for top posts.

Dheere's appointment satisfies a branch of the clan known as the Abgal. Abdi Qeybdiid, a member of the Habr Gedir branch, is the new deputy police chief, and Mohamed Qanyare Afrah of the Mursade branch is widely believed to be about to join Yusuf's Cabinet.