Baidoa

Baidoa (Somali: Baydhabo) is a city in south-central Somalia. It is the capital of the Bay Region, which is historically inhabited by the Digil and Mirifle clans.

Various factions of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army (RRA) struggle for control of the city. On 30 May 2005 forces loyal to Hasan Muhammad Nur Shatigudud, former RRA chairman, and Shaykh Adan Madobe, former first secretary, attacked the town, which is controlled by the forces of Muhammad Ibrahim Habsade. This had been preceded by months of building tensions as the various militia groups built up their arsenals. In the immediate aftermath of the fighting, both the Shatigudud/Madobe and Habsade militias were seen to be preparing for further clashes. The fighting was seen as another sign of a faltering transition.

The Transitional Federal Government, of which Shatigudud and Madobe are ministers, wishes to move a joint national capital from Mogadishu to Baidoa and Jowhar. President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed has little support in Mogadishu and wishes to avoid the influence of the capital's powerful warlords. Habsade, who is aligned with the warlords of Mogadishu and sees President Yusuf as a pawn of Ethiopia, wishes to keep the capital from moving.