BAIDOA,
Somalia May
24 (Garowe
Online)
- Soldiers
protecting
the
transitional
Somali
president's
headquarters
in the
southwestern
town of
Baidoa stole
an
assortment
of weapons
Wednesday
night from
the
compound,
local police
officials
said.
The stolen
weapons
included
nearly 70
AK-47s, BKM
and
rocket-propelled
grenade
(RPG)
launchers,
according to
security
sources.
There were
reports that
the members
of the
security
forces who
stole the
weapons took
them to
neighboring
Bakool
region, west
of Baidoa.
In 2006, the
Somali
transitional
government
was
headquartered
in Baidoa,
since the
traditional
capital
Mogadishu,
250km away,
remained in
the hands of
warlords
and, in
later
months, the
Islamic
Courts
movement.
The
country's
transitional
federal
parliament
is still
headquartered
in Baidoa,
but
President
Abdullahi
Yusuf, Prime
Minister Ali
Mohamed Gedi
and Cabinet
ministers
have since
officially
relocated to
Mogadishu,
after the
Ethiopian
army helped
the
government
oust
Islamist
leaders from
the capital
in January.
Security
officials
said they
were
investigating
the crime at
Baidoa's
presidential
palace,
which serves
as President
Yusuf's
second home.
Yesterday,
Baidoa
police
imposed a
week-long
nighttime
curfew on
the city,
following a
spate of
nighttime
attacks and
robberies by
armed thugs
and
increasing
complaints
from
trouble-weary
residents.
Source:
Garowe
Online
