SOMALIA: Calm weekend in Mogadishu as uneasy calm holds amid ceasefire talk attempts

Record ID: 662464

  • Title: SOMALIA: Calm weekend in Mogadishu as uneasy calm holds amid ceasefire talk attempts
  • Date: 29th May 2006
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE)(Somali) CHAIRMAN OF ISLAMIC ALLIANCE COURTS, SHEIKH SHARIF AHMED SAYING: "They brought us and came to negotiate between the warring sides and look for peace, and we have taken from them without conditions and welcomed their calls."
  • Embargoed: 13th June 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5GLW5GOVC3N9Y695JL92ATVP0
  • Story Text: An uneasy calm reigned in Mogadishu after almost a week of heavy fighting in which bullets and artillery shells slammed Mogadishu as rival militias intensified their battle for control of the Somali capital.
    The fighting, which threatens Somalia's weak transitional government as it tries to impose authority on the anarchic nation, is also being seen by many as a battle between Islam and the United States' "war on terrorism".
    The battle, which erupted on Wednesday (May 24) and has killed at least 70 people so far, had eased overnight. But fighting broke out in the Daynile, Keysaney and Galgalato districts on Saturday, sending terrified residents fleeing, witnesses said.
    The warlords -- among them four ministers in Somalia's weak transitional government -- said they were trying to retake areas seized from them on Friday, including a major road junction.
    Kilometre 4 is a critical junction and had been a warlord stronghold until the Islamist militias routed them and seized the Sahafi hotel owned by a warlord.
    The Somali government, based in the town of Baidoa sent in a former warlord to try and mediate in he fighting. Osman Hassan Ali "Atto" now the Somali public works minister held meetings at Mogadishu's peace hotel.
    "From this time on we have made appointments to ceasefire and repatriate the militias their positions before February 18th this year, and we have hope those efforts get into immediately." he said after meeting some of the Islamic courts officials on Saturday (May 27).
    The Islamists, backed by influential sharia courts, have taken greater control of the city every time they have clashed with the warlord coalition since its formation in February, in fights laced with commercial and political motives.
    "They brought us and came to negotiate between the warring sides and look for peace, and we have taken from them without conditions and welcomed their calls." said Sheikh Sharif Ahmed the chairman of the ISlamic courts.
    The perception that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is funding the warlords has inflamed the fighting.
    The latest round of fighting has killed at least 320 people, mostly civilians, and wounded hundreds in what Mogadishu residents say is the worst fighting in the city in a decade.
    The government, the 14th attempt at creating central authority since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre's 1991 ouster, has made its temporary home in the south-central city of Baidoa because it cannot pacify Mogadishu.
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