SOMALIA: African Union forces advance on a rebel stronghold in the town of Afgoye, just west of the capital Mogadishu, forcing civilians to flee

Record ID: 375578

  • Title: SOMALIA: African Union forces advance on a rebel stronghold in the town of Afgoye, just west of the capital Mogadishu, forcing civilians to flee
  • Date: 25th May 2012
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) UGANDA CONTIGENT COMMANDER, PAUL LOCKAGE, SAYING: "Our intention is to get the whole of Lower Shabelle, that is Middle Shabelle and Lower Shabelle, these are areas of Merka, Afgoye and Balad and subsequently to connect Baidoa, subsequently connect to Baidoa. This is the mission." AMISOM TROOPS LOADING AMMUNITION INTO ARMOURED PERSONEL CARRIER
  • Embargoed: 9th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7VWSLD08Q7A21GT05K4JGMC5L
  • Story Text: African Union (AU) and Somali government troops stepped up their assault on al Shabaab militants in the capital's northern outskirts on Wednesday (May 23), forcing hundreds of families to flee their makeshift homes and head for the centre of Mogadishu.
    The AU force, which already controls most of the capital, is trying to advance through the Afgoye corridor, once a rural area northwest of Mogadishu but now home to hundreds of thousands of Somalis uprooted from their homes.
    The corridor, believed to house the largest concentration of internally displaced people in the world, stretches some 30 km northwest of Mogadishu to the al Shabaab stronghold of Afgoye.
    The AU force began its advance on Tuesday (May 22) and seized part of Tre Disho village, 13 km from the capital.
    The officer commanding the Ugandan contingent of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) Colonel Paul Lockage said they were working to link Mogadishu to the rest of the country.
    "Our intention is get the whole of Lower Shabelle, that is Middle Shabelle and Lower Shabelle, these are areas of Merka, Afgoye and Balad and subsequently to connect Baidoa, subsequently connect to Baidoa. This is the mission." said Lockage AMISOM says that securing the Afgoye corridor would enable aid to reach some 400,000 people. In a statement on Wednesday it encouraged people to stay at home and said its troops were avoiding heavily residential areas near Afgoye's main road.
    Al Shabaab has waged a bloody five-year campaign to topple Somalia's Western-backed government and impose its harsh interpretation of sharia, Islamic law, on a country that has been mired in violence for the last two decades.
    It still controls swathes of central and southern Somalia but is being gradually squeezed out of its strongholds by Kenyan and Ethiopian troops who have launched their own incursions into Somalia, and is being pushed out of Mogadishu by AU forces.
    Al Shabaab said they had lost four fighters and killed three AU soldiers. On Tuesday they said they had killed 30 soldiers. It is difficult to verify either side's estimates of casualties, which are often exaggerated.
    Civilians fleeing the fighting hoped to find safety in central Mogadishu.
    The U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somali said prolonged fighting could displace more people.
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