Somalia fighting continues for the fifth day as five are killed
Monday Aweys Osman Yusuf
Mogadishu 23, April.07 ( Sh.M.Network) Fighting
between Ethiopian troops along with government forces and Islamic
insurgents backed by clan militias continues in the Somali
capital Mogadishu for the fifth straight day. Ethiopian military
forces have been firing rockets from the presidential palace,
and former army compound in south of the capital targeting
neighborhoods in north of Mogadishu, insurgent strongholds.
At least five civilians were killed and more than
10 were wounded in Shibis and Suq Baad neighborhoods in north
of the capital early Monday morning. According to witnesses, the
victims were fleeing the areas when they were hit by stray
bullets.
Somalia Deputy Defense Minister, Salad Alai Jelle,
told local journalists on Sunday that the Somali transitional
government was determined to pacify the gun-infested capital,
calling on civilians remaining in areas where the battle rages
to leave their homes.
The fighting continues despite the governments
lack of efforts to assist thousands of families who are
lingering under the trees of southern provinces of the country
and on the outskirts of the capital after they fled the war
going on in hot-blooded city.
Torrential artilleries and mortar rounds are
landing at Jamhuriah neighborhood, north of the capital, as the
deafening sounds of the explosions could be throughout the city
on Monday.
Hawiye clan political leader, Abdulahi Sheik
Ismail, told Shabelle Monday morning that there was ongoing
ceasefire agreement being brokered by the clan leaders and
Ethiopian officers in the country, so far fighting continues in
the capital.
Shabelle Media Network Somalia
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Shelling traps Somalis in capital
The fighting has
raged for six days
Heavy shelling is taking place as Ethiopian-backed government
forces battle insurgents in Somalia's capital. Ethiopian tanks have been
pursuing Islamists and local militias into their stronghold in the north of
Mogadishu.
The United Nations refugee agency says many residents are trapped in the
fighting as roads leading out of Mogadishu have been blocked.
Some 250 people have been killed during the last six days of fighting and
thousands are fleeing the capital.
Somalia's deputy defence minister Salad Ali Jelle has asked people living near
insurgent strongholds to move out before a planned attack on the rebels.
Ethiopian forces have been in Mogadishu since December last year after helping
Somalia's transitional government oust the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).
The insurgents are believed to be a mixture of Islamists and militiamen from
the Hawiye clan - the largest in Mogadishu.
Fleeing
Many bodies are lying around Mogadishu and hundreds of people are fleeing
towards the Kenyan border, says the BBC Swahili reporter Khadra Mohammed said.
Some have serious injuries and need urgent medical attention, she says.
Only people with money are able to move out of the capital on public transport
vans, most of the dead are poor people, our correspondent says.
UNHCR spokesperson Catherine Weibel has told the BBC they are now providing
relief supplies to about 20,000 displaced people out of the more than 300,000
who have fled the violence.
Eritrea which is accused of supporting insurgents opposed to the Somalia's
transitional government has suspended its membership from the
Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad), the East African regional
body that brokered the Somali peace process.
The withdrawal from the seven-member Igad group was the latest sign of
deteriorating relations between Asmara and regional countries over Somalia.
"It's a temporary withdrawal. We feel that it's not responsible to stay in
that organisation when decisions are being made that are not legally or morally
acceptable," Information Minister Ali Abdu told Reuters News Agency.
An Eritrean representative at the recent Igad meeting held in Kenya's capital,
Nairobi, clashed with his Ethiopian counterpart over their presence in Somalia.
Eritrea has denied accusations from Ethiopia and America that it is supplying
arms to insurgents opposed to the transitional government.
Somalia has not had a functional government since 1991. A transitional
government was formed in 2004, but has so far failed to take full control of
the country.
Ethiopian troops have started to withdraw, to be replaced by an African Union
peacekeeping force, but only 1,200 of the 8,000 troops the AU says it needs
have been deployed.
Muslims Should united all over the World
untill the appearance of al Mahdi (r.a.) the
descendent of Prophet Muhammed s.a.w.
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