A committee appointed by Somalia's new president Abdulkassim Salat Hassan Saturday began interviewing militiamen interested in serving in a new police force for the country's lawless capital.
An estimated 3,000 armed men, mostly gunmen owing allegiance to Somalia's numerous clans and militiamen loyal to Mogadishu's Islamic courts, gathered at Herada Maslah on the southern outskirts of Mogadishu hoping to be recruited into the police force, according to an AFP correspondent at the scene.
About 1,000 posts have been reserved for those who served in a police unit created by the UN peacekeeping force in Somalia between 1992 and 1995.
"I would like to be a policeman and earn a salary. I can maintain peace if I am continually paid by the new Somali authority," militiaman Ahmed Ibrahim, 28, told AFP.
"I will not join in inter-clan fighting," said Ibrahim, who was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle.
President Salat plans to form a 4,000-strong force to police war-ravaged, Mogadishu, which was carved up among rival warlords after the 1991 overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Police recruitment committee's chairman is Mohamed Nur Galal, a former general in Mohamed Siad Barre's army.
Several Mogadishu businessmen have pledged to pay the salaries and provide food and logistical support to the police force for six months.
Previous attempts to set up a security force for Mogadishu failed because of clan feuding and rivalry among warlords.
Faction leaders opposed to Salat are not likely to support his efforts to form a police force.
Salat was elected by a parliament-in-exile formed in Arta, in neighboring Djibouti, on August 25 as part of a process aimed at restoring law and order in Somalia.
He said earlier this week that his top priorities are to appoint a prime minister and to begin to disarm the country's militia groups.
But Salat faces opposition from the warlords, who boycotted the Djibouti reconciliation conference, which they say will only lead to further violence -- MOGADISHU (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
