SOMALIA: Somali government troops battle clan militias in North Mogadishu

Record ID: 375276

  • Title: SOMALIA: Somali government troops battle clan militias in North Mogadishu
  • Date: 13th April 2007
  • Summary: (BN11) MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (APRIL11,2007) (REUTERS) VARIOUS IMAGES OF FIGHTING BETWEEN INSURGENTS AND GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS MILITIAS HOLDING GUNS AND WALKING MILITIAMAN FIRING TOWARDS GOVERNMENT SOLDIERS VARIOUS MILITIAMAN HIDING AND FIRING MILITIAMAN WITH RPG RIFLE WALKING WITH ANOTHER MAN WITH AMMUNITION BELT VARIOUS IMAGES OF MILITIAS FIGHTING VIEW OF MILITIAS HIDING BEHIN
  • Embargoed: 28th April 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Reuters ID: LVA4PLMYO7WKZ74UR83ZZRYKXG2Q
  • Story Text: Government forces and clan militia clashed in northern Mogadishu as continued insecurity in the Somali capital delayed the national reconciliation meeting seen as critical to a viable state.
    Residents heard the rattle of small arms in the fighting on Wednesday (April 11), which killed at least three and ended more than a week of relative calm after the March 29 - April 1 battles claimed more than 1,000 lives, according to local investigators.
    That fighting subsided after the capital's dominant Hawiye clan brokered a truce with Ethiopian soldiers protecting the Somali interim government, but the sight of Hawiye and Islamist militia digging trenches has fuelled fears of new violence.
    Deputy Defence Minister Salad Ali Gele said the government side had also suffered casualties.
    The International Committee of the Red Cross said the recent battles were the lawless city's worst for more than 15 years.
    They were triggered when government and Ethiopian forces began a disarmament drive that grew into an offensive to crush insurgents before a planned April 16 reconciliation meeting.
    The interim government, formed in 2004, has struggled to impose its authority over Mogadishu since defeating rival Islamist leaders in a lightning New Year campaign backed by Ethiopian soldiers, tanks and warplanes.
    Diplomats say the government's legitimacy hinges on its ability to include all Somalis at the reconciliation meeting.
    Exposing sharp divisions in the administration, Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Aideed said it was too late for the government to salvage any credibility and that its mandate had collapsed.
    Aideed said fresh peace talks should be held outside Somalia, and he blamed the recent bloodshed on Ethiopia.
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