 Somali MPs traded physical blows as parliament voted against the deployment of peacekeepers to Somalia. The president wants regional troops to help with the relocation of the administration from neighbouring Kenya, but key warlords oppose the move. Dressed in suits and ties, the MPs threw heavy chairs at each other and beat each other with sticks. Since 1991, when the government fell, rival warlords have divided Somalia into a patchwork of fiefdoms. Bleeding wounds According to the BBC's Caroline Karobia in Nairobi the scuffles began after the parliament speaker asked MPs to raise their hands in the vote. More than half of them were against sending regional troops to Somalia. "There was a big fight because the opposition was not happy with the vote," MP Abdalla Boss Ahmed told Reuters news agency. Kenya television showed footage of the brawl, with parliamentarians tending to bleeding head wounds. |