Bloody clashes rock Somali capital

Mar 30, 2007

HEAVY fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu, involving Ethiopian helicopters and tanks, left at least 18 people dead and over 100 wounded yesterday.

By Emmy Allio
and agencies


HEAVY fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu, involving Ethiopian helicopters and tanks, left at least 18 people dead and over 100 wounded yesterday.

Ugandan troops, in Somalia under an African Union flag, were not involved in the eight-hour long battle.

Seven Ethiopian soldiers were killed, two of their bodies dragged through the streets by angry crowds, shouting “We will kill the Ethiopian troops.”

The scenes echoed the deadly violence last week, when angry crowds burned the bodies of two Somali soldiers and dragged another through the streets.

“So far 18 Somalis have been killed, most of them civilians, while 70 wounded were admitted into Medina Hospital,” reported journalist El Badri Abubakar by telephone from Mogadishu. Another 80 wounded were reportedly admitted in Keysanay Hospital.

“Many wounded people might be trapped inside their houses, too afraid to come out and seek medical treatment,” said El Badri. “Those who can are fleeing the city.”

The UN said 57,000 people fled Mogadishu since February, including 12,000 in the last week alone. “They are hungry and face harassment from thugs,” the UN refugee agency said in a statement.

The heavy fighting yesterday was sparked by an Ethiopian offensive against insurgents in the morning.
Ethiopian helicopters dropped deafening bombs and fired heavy machine gunfire in the first airborne attacks since the start of the year, according to AFP.

Loudspeakers transmitted calls for residents to come out and fight the Ethiopian troops backing Somalia’s interim government.

The fighting mainly took place in the south, but there were also attacks in Mogadishu’s Ramadan district in the north of the city. A thick cloud of black smoke could be seen around Mogadishu stadium and helicopters fired rockets near the main Bakara market, a densely populated part of the capital.

As the fighting continued, an AFP correspondent witnessed a plane leaving Mogadishu airport with around a dozen wounded Ethiopian soldiers on board.
“We are not part of the fighting,” said spokesman Capt. Paddy Ankunda. “Instead, we are trying to talk to both sides and negotiate a ceasefire, especially as we prepare for the forthcoming national dialogue and reconciliation conference.”

He said the AU force commander, Maj. Gen. Levi Karuhanga, held a meeting on Wednesday with the leadership of the Hawiye, the dominant clan in Mogadishu. “We now have the support of both the Hawiye and the transitional government we are mandated to protect,” Ankunda assured.

The Somali deputy defence minister, Salad Ali Jeelle, defended yesterday’s operation at a press conference in Kampala yesterday.

“The operation is led by the Somali army assisted by our African brothers. The aim is to bring peace and security to the city before holding the national conference on April 16,” said Jeelle, who had been meeting Ugandan army commanders for two days.

“We regret the death of civilians caught in the fighting which is being prolonged by the insurgents who are shelling indiscriminately into areas where civilians are.” He added that they have been urging the population to surrender their arms for two months now.

Earlier, defence minister Crispus Kiyonga said Uganda had encouraged the Somali government to “build the broadest possible base of all stakeholders in the conduct of the planned national dialogue”.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told parliament in Addis Ababa that he had withdrawn two-thirds of his forces from Somalia.

“As the situation in Somalia unravelled differently than expected, we had to withdraw troops gradually in two rounds. Hence, two-thirds of our troops have been withdrawn so far,” Meles said in a speech to parliament.

“Our mission was to destroy the fundamentalist threat posed on us and we have succeeded in achieving this.”
Islamists who ruled southern and central Somalia for six months from June last year had threatened to attack neighbouring Ethiopia.

But Meles said a second round of withdrawal had been delayed because the African Union’s deployment of peacekeepers has not taken place “as desired.”

An 8,000-strong AU force is supposed to take over from Ethiopian forces but only 1,500 Ugandan troops have been deployed.

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