Somali MP arrested in Somaliland

A member of Somalia's new transitional parliament has been arrested on his return to the northern region of Somaliland.

The man, Garaad Abshir Salah, a traditional leader from central Somaliland was arrested at Berbera airport on his return from Djibouti.

The authorities in Somaliland, who have declared it to be an independent state, came out against the peace and reconciliation conference in Djibouti.

And they said delegates returning from the conference would face arrest and possible treason charges.

President Hassan: The nothern regions fear he wants a united Somalia

Somaliland, a former British protectorate, broke away from Somalia in 1991 and has repeatedly expressed fears of being dragged back into the country's long-running civil war.

It was also reported that several commanders in the neighbouring Puntland region of northern Somalia were dismissed when they failed to arrest people returning from the Djibouti conference.

A weekly newspaper, Yool, quoting sources, said the officers had been ordered to detain returning delegates but failed to do so and became insubordinate.

Like Somaliland, Puntland has been strongly critical of the Djibouti conference and its participants.

Appeal

At the weekend, the new president of Somalia, Abdulkassim Salat Hassan, appealed for massive aid to rebuild his country after a decade without central government.

Speaking at a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo, he said Somalia needed the Arab equivalent of the Marshall Plan in Europe at the end of the Second World War.

Mr Hassan, who was elected last month, is on an international tour to try to garner support for what he has called "new Somalia".

President Hassan described what was happening to Somalia as little short of a miracle - a state reborn after 10 years off the political map.

He has the backing of businessmen and the Islamic law courts, and received a rapturous welcome recently by the public in Somalia's two main cities, Mogadishu and Baidoa.

But his attempts to impose a central authority on Somalia are opposed by several powerful faction leaders, as well as the leaders of Somaliland and Puntland.