17 April 2001
Husayn Muhammad Aydid, present chairman of the recently formed Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC), arrived in Baidoa, southern Somalia, on Tuesday. Local sources told IRIN that Aydid arrived at midday, leading a 16-member delegation of the SRRC which reportedly included Usman Hasan Ali Ato, General Abdullahi Nur Gabyow, and Muse Sudi Yalahow. Aydid's arrival followed efforts by the Chairman of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA), Hasan Muhammad Nur Shatigadud to convince the RRA executive committee to support the visit, local sources said. Eyewitness said many technicals [pick-up trucks mounted with heavy weapons] and militia were on the streets of Baidoa to receive Aydid, a prominent Mogadishu-based opposition faction leader.
Those who opposed Aydid's visit accuse his militia of committing atrocities against the Rahanweyn people during the time his faction controlled Bay and Bakol regions, southern Somalia, from 1995 to 1999, after which it was dislodged by the RRA.
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