MOGADISHU, Somalia May 21 (Garowe Online) - Senior members of Mogadishu' s municipal government have raised serious accusations against Mayor Mohamed "Dheere" Omar, a former warlord who enjoys intimate ties with the Ethiopian government.

Mohamed Dhagahtur, the deputy mayor for social affairs, and Abdifatah Shaweye, who is deputy mayor in charge of security, issued the joint statement to the press Wednesday in the Somali capital.

Mohamed Dheere, Mayor of Mogadishu

Both deputy mayors launched scathing accusations linking Mayor Mohamed Dheere to the ongoing insurgency that has virtually crippled Somalia's transitional government since early 2007.

"We have informed [transitional] Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf at Villa Somalia [presidential compound] and he [President Yusuf] has accepted all our messages regarding insecurity in the Somali capital and the role of Mogadishu Mayor Mohamed Dheere," Mr. Dhagahtur told journalists today.

The deputy mayors accused Mohamed Dheere of aiding insurgents by providing them weapons, while specifically linking the mayor of Mogadishu to a guerrilla attack on a key checkpoint south of the capital yesterday that killed three government soldiers.

Also today, the deputy mayors co-chaired a meeting with 13 district commissioners from across Mogadishu, where they informed the commissioners that President Yusuf has pledged to "change" the current Mogadishu government.

Mayor Mohamed Dheere has not responded publicly to any of these accusations, but observers are quick to point that he enjoys the backing of Ethiopia's army generals deployed in Mogadishu.

Source: Garowe Online