Tuesday, April 03, 2007
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - The dominant clan in Somalia's capital held talks Tuesday with the Ethiopian military in a bid to prevent further bloodshed in Mogadishu, which remained calm for a second day after fighting left nearly 400 people dead.
The new violence -- the worst in the Somali capital in 15 years -- erupted last week when Somali government forces and their Ethiopian backers began an offensive against Islamic insurgents.
The International Contact Group on Somalia conference in Cairo will discuss how the world can help the transitional government restore law and order, Foreign Minister Ismael Hurreh said.
"The most important issue on the table is the security in the country," he told The Associated Press by telephone from Cairo.
Meanwhile, Eritrea, which was accused of backing the Islamic movement driven from power in Somalia in December, called for the withdrawal of recently deployed Ugandan peacekeepers.
Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said that the peacekeepers could fall into a trap. The 1,400 troops, the vanguard of a larger African Union peacekeeping force, already have been targeted by insurgents. Afwerki made the remarks after holding talks with Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni.
Even by Somalia's bloody standards, the current violence has been intense.
Rotting corpses litter the tiny, dusty alleyways and back streets in the south of the capital where much of the fighting took place.
"We are discussing the cease-fire and how to strengthen it," Ahmed Diriye, spokesman for the influential Hawiye clan that dominates the ruined coastal capital, said of the talks with Ethiopian military leaders.
In a statement released Monday, the European Union condemned the fighting and "the massive loss of human life," echoing U.N. calls for peace to allow in aid.
Some 565 people also have been wounded during four days of heavy fighting. Ethiopian troops used tanks and attack helicopters in an offensive to crush insurgents linked to the Islamic movement.
At least 36 Ethiopian soldiers were killed and 48 wounded in the fighting, said a Somali official on condition of anonymity because it related to security matters. The official saw the soldiers being taken off two military helicopters at Dolow airport, 317 miles (510 kilometers) west of Mogadishu and on the border with Ethiopia.
Thousands of people have fled.
Somalis poured out of the ruined coastal city on foot, using donkey carts, cars and trucks, joining the exodus of 47,000 people -- mainly women and children -- who have sought safety in the last 10 days, according to the U.N. refugee agency.
Since February, almost 100,000 people have fled the violence. Behind them, Somalia's transitional government warned of new attacks to crush the insurgents.
Kenya has doubled the number of troops patrolling the 930-mile (1,500 kilometer) Somali border to prevent a new influx of refugees, said Antony Kibuchi, the Kenyan police chief in the border province. The Kenyan army also is patrolling in light tanks, he said.
At least 1,300 people who fled Mogadishu arrived at Dobley, a Somali town four miles (seven kilometers) from the Kenyan border, but were not allowed to cross, traditional elder Mohamed Elmi told the AP by telephone.
The insurgents are linked to the Council of Islamic Courts, which was driven from power in December by Somali and Ethiopian soldiers, accompanied by U.S. Special Forces. The United States has accused the courts of having ties to al Qaeda.
The militants have long rejected any secular government and have sworn to fight until Somalia becomes an Islamic emirate.
The country has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned against each other. A national government was established in 2004 but has failed to assert any real control.
Source: AP, April 03, 2007