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Capital of central region cut off

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January 3, 2001 

MOGADISHU-- (UNB/AP) - Faction leaders in Baidoa have forced the town's communications businesses to close, cutting it off from the outside world and sparking rumors and confusion, business executives said Tuesday.

All the town's communications lines including VHF radios have been out of operation since Monday and no traffic has been allowed in or out of Baidoa, 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Mogadishu, the businessmen said. The business executives, who were speaking from Hawal-Barbar village, 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Baidoa, did not want to be identified.

The Rahanwein Resistance Army, the militia controlling Baidoa, has not given any reason for the communications blackout.

Rumors have been rife among Somalia's media and business community, with tales ranging from the presence of Ethiopian forces in the town to fighting within the RRA.

In Mogadishu, worried residents were unable to contact their relatives.

The RRA has been divided since chairman Hassan Mohamed Nur announced his opposition to the new government of President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan in October. But the faction's secretary-general, Abdalle Derow Issak, is the speaker of the 245-member parliament which was elected in August in neighboring Djibouti.

Before the formation of Hassan's government, Somalia had not had a central government since opposition leaders joined forces to oust dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Factional leaders then fought with each other, turning the nation of 7 million into battling fiefdoms ruled by heavily armed militias.

Baidoa, a town of narrow, dusty streets, crumbling houses and bustling markets, has suffered through 10 years of chaos. It became known as the "City of Death" after a war-provoked famine devastated the town and surrounding region in 1992.

A semblance of stability was restored in June 1999 when the RRA, backed by neighboring Ethiopia, seized the town from Hussein Mohamed Aidid, a faction leader based in southern Mogadishu.