SOMALIA: Anger in Mogadishu as Ethiopian and Somalia troops kill a young boy

Record ID: 817679

  • Title: SOMALIA: Anger in Mogadishu as Ethiopian and Somalia troops kill a young boy
  • Date: 6th January 2007
  • Summary: PEOPLE DEMONSTRATING AND CHANTING ANTI- ETHIOPIAN SLOGANS
  • Embargoed: 21st January 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Somalia
  • Country: Somalia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABL9KVAOGL53OBAMZKEINB5LV0
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Somalis hurled stones and burnt tyres in Mogadishu on Saturday (January 6) protesting against the presence of Ethiopian troops and a government disarmament drive.
    Holding sticks and stones and shouting "Down with Ethiopia", crowds of people marched through central Mogadishu after throwing stones near stalls selling jars of fuel.
    Ethiopian troops shot in the air to try and disperse the crowd but protesters could not be moved.
    "The TFG and Ethiopians troops invaded our country and they have shot and killed my son for no good reason, I call on all Somalis to fight Ethiopian troops who are in our country," said Omar Halane the father of the young boy who was killed.
    Heavily armed Ethiopian forces helped the Somali government drive out Islamists from Mogadishu a week ago, breaking free from its provincial outpost Baidoa to end six months of Islamist rule across much of southern Somalia.
    The protest comes just days after an ambush killed at least one Ethiopian soldier in south Somalia and a hand grenade was thrown at Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu.
    "We are supporters of the Islamic courts, we are prepared and ready to fight Ethiopian troops and their allies," said a student who is a supporter of Islamic courts Abdirizak Mire.
    The Ethiopian-government force's arrival in Mogadishu had been met with a mixture of jubilation, fear and protests.
    The Islamists have vowed to fight on, melting into the hills in Somalia's remote southern tip where Ethiopian and government forces are hunting hundreds of their fighters.
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