Sunday, April 01, 2007
MOGADISHU (AFP) - The fourth straight day of heavy fighting left a trail of devastation in the Somali capital on Sunday as Ugandan peacekeepers reported their first death and clan elders called for a ceasefire.
The Ugandan army said one of its soldiers was killed and five others wounded when mortar shells pounded the presidential palace Saturday, marking the first death among African Union peacekeepers deployed in Somalia.
"We are not suprised by what took place, we expect those people (insurgents) to do more of such things. We are not in any fear at all," Ugandan military spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye told AFP in Kampala.
Residents were pouring out of Mogadishu's Ali Kamin neighbourhood and the stadium area, where the fighting between the Ethiopian army and Islamist insurgents has been fierce.
In Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said some 10,000 people have fled the fighting over three days alone, bringing the number of people displaced since February to nearly 100,000.
Up to 56,000 people fled the city in March, most of them since March 21, while an estimated 40,000 had already fled Mogadishu in February, UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told AFP.
"The exodus from the Somali capital continues and the figure is expected to rise as people living close to the conflict area are abandoning their homes due to mortar shells and fears that the fighting will spread," he said.
An AFP correspondent saw the bodies of six civilians lying in the street in the Somali capital. Fire from artillery and tanks had destroyed homes in the stadium area.
"There is still fighting over here. There are tanks everywhere. Shells are landing everywhere and this is very scary," Hussein Ali, a resident of southern Mogadishu, told AFP.
The bodies of two soldiers could be seen on a street next to the remains of an Ethiopian army truck. Nearby a phalanx of Ethiopian tanks was in position on a crossroads not far from the charred remains of seven civilian trucks.
According to a toll compiled by AFP from witnesses and hospital sources at least 70 people had been killed by Sunday in the worst fighting the city has seen in 15 years.
Residents said the death count could be much higher as other areas remained inaccesible.
As shells crashed down on residential areas and sniper fire rang out, elders from the dominant Hawiye clan made frantic calls for a ceasefire to allow civilians to flee.
The elders, who held talks with Ethiopian commanders, said rival sides should observe an unconditional truce and withdraw their forces from frontline neighbourhoods.
"We call on both sides to stop the fire... and withdraw from the frontlines four hours after the ceasefire is implemented," they said in a statement.
"We ask the AU peacekeeping mission AMISOM to monitor the implementation of this ceasefire."
Clan spokesman Ahmed Dirie said "there shall be no attacks between the Ethiopians and the Hawiye." The Ethiopian army could not be reached for comment.
Residents said a battalion of Ethiopian troops had entered Somalia on Saturday through the border post of Beledweyne to reinforce their colleagues.
The Ethiopians launched their offensive Thursday against the remnants of an Islamist movement it helped the Somali government topple earlier this year.
But despite being driven out of the capital in apparent confusion, and pounded by US warplanes as they retreated into the countryside, the Islamists have returned to the capital to stage guerrilla-style attacks.
Some of the insurgent leaders have alleged links to Al-Qaeda and the United States has warned that the terror group is hoping to turn the failed east African country into a new base.
The latest fighting shattered a feeble six-day ceasefire with the Hawiye clan which has controlled Mogadishu since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Source: AFP, Apr 01, 2007