Somalia's transitional parliament speaker Abdallah Derrow Issak has arrived safely in the central Hiran region after fleeing hostilities in the neighboring Bakol region, the Qaran daily newspaper reported Sunday.
The paper said that Issak, who arrived in Hiran's Elali village on Saturday after an attack on his convoy by fighters of the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA), has demanded a strong armed force to escort him back to the capital Mogadishu.
The attack by the RRA on Saturday morning left at least nine people dead -- five from Issak's side and four from the RRA -- seven others injured and five transitional government's armed vehicle escorts captured, latest reports said.
Transitional Education Minister Mohamed Aden Ali Kilai, who was earlier claimed to have been captured by the RRA had also safely reached Elali. More battle wagons have already been dispatched from Mogadishu to rescue them.
According RRA deputy commander Mohamed Ibrahim Habsde, the RRA had offered a price of 3,000 dollars for the capture of Issak, who he had claimed was on the run.
Issak, escorted by 20 armed wagons and 150 gunmen, left Mogadishu early on Friday for a tour of the volatile southern Bakol and Bay region of Somalia, but most of the wagons returned after he reached Tiyaglow.
Tension had been high for a week at the RRA headquarters in Baidoa, after Shatigudud reportedly removed Issak's supporters from his administration, chased away Issak's supporters from Baidoa and severed all communication links with other parts of Somalia.
Issak was the secretary general of RRA, but fell out with Shatigudud because of his decision to support the transitional government headed by President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan.
Shatigudud initially backed Salat's administration, but later withdrew his support, saying some parts of Somalia were not represented at a reconciliation conference in Djibouti, where the president was elected by the transitional Somali parliament on August 25.
The conference, held under the auspices of Djibouti President Ismael Omar Guelleh, was attended by thousands of Somali delegates but spurned by most of the warlords who have carved the country up in the past decade.
Somalia has lacked an effective central government since the fall of dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991 -- MOGADISHU (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
