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Jowhar (Somali: Jowhar; Italian: Giohar), also Johar or Giohar, formerly Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi or Villabruzzi, is the capital town of the Shabeellaha Dhexe region of Somalia, and, along with Baidoa, forms the joint administrative capital of the Transitional Federal Government.
The town lies 90 km (50 mi) along a major road north of the nominal national capital of Mogadishu. There is an airport in the north of the town.
History
Italian mountaineer and nobleman Luigi Amedeo founded the eponymous Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi as an agricultural settlement experimenting with new cultivation techniques. In 1926 the colony comprised 16 villages, with 3,000 Somali and 200 Italian inhabitants.
Jowhar only became the regional capital in the mid-1980s when Mogadishu was taken out of Shabeellaha Dhexe to form its own region, Banaadir.
Role in Transitional Federal Government
As part of a 2004 agreement, Jowhar and the town of Baidoa were to form a joint administrative capital of the Transitional Federal Government, sited away from Mogadishu for security reasons. Continued fighting has threatened to derail the peace process, but in July 2005, transitional president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed relocated to the town from his base in Bossaso, moving the process forward, and joining transitional Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi, already resident in the town one month. Part of the parliament became based in Jowhar, while some ministries were established in Mogadishu.Interim Somali government to relocate to Baidoa and Jowhar, Voice of Africa, 23 March 2005 By February 2006, despite Ghedi's security concerns*, the two leaders had left to Baidoa, where it was decided the parliament would meet.
Recent fighting
In June 2006, the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism warlords lost Mogadishu after several months of sporadic fighting.US 'worried by' Somali Islamists, BBC News, 6 June 2006 The victorious Islamic Courts Union was reported to be approaching the town, but Union chairman Sheikh Sharif Ahmed stated that they had no intention of attacking Jowhar, unless attacked themselves.US cool on Somali terror denial, BBC News, 8 June 2006 However, on 13 June 2006, the Union of Islamic Courts attacked the town from the north, clashing with the forces main local warlord Mohamed Dhere, quickly overcoming resistance and capturing the town.Somali Islamists capture key town, BBC News, 13 June 2006
Notes and references
"Jowhar"