Baidoa, Somalia, 8 December 2007 - Somali and Ethiopian troops in the southwestern city of Baidoa have tightened security in town following two explosions yesterday that wounded at least eight people.

Baidoa residents said it was difficult to move around town Friday, after hundreds of extra Somali and Ethiopian security forces were placed across town in a visible show of force.

Vehicles were searched and people were ordered to return to their homes, locals said.

Somali lawmakers in Baidoa, the transitional federal parliament is based, said a private meeting was disrupted by Somali-Ethiopian soldiers, who demanded that legislators meeting privately at the home disperse.

More than 50 members of parliament gathered at the home of MP Hassan "Shatigadud" Mohamed Nur, a former Baidoa warlord, were surprised when soldiers surrounded the home.

"Soldiers backed by armored vehicles surrounded us while we held a private meeting at his [Shatigadud's] house," MP Mohamed Osman Maye said.

Ali Atosh, deputy commander of the counterterrorism unit, said authorities received information that a armed protest was "being organized" at the home of MP Shatigadud.

Security forces were dispatched to the home to disperse the crowd there before a protest could be organized.

Atosh dismissed reports that Shatigadud's home in Baidoa was surrounded by Somali and Ethiopian soldiers, but stated that routine security operations were taking place in the vicinity of the home.

Shatigadud was appointed last week to head the ministry of national security by Prime Minister Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein.

But he, along with three other Cabinet ministers from the Rahawein clan, resigned from their posts in protest, arguing that they were not consulted during the process.

The Rahawein clan is one of four major clans that form the foundation of the 4.5 power-sharing formula that is the basis for the transitional government.

Prime Minister Nur Adde's Cabinet appointments has met with steady resistance from ministers, lawmakers and even senior Ethiopian government officials, including Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin.

Source: Garowe Online