Violence in Somalia Continues

[xiinfaniin]

Violence in Somalia Continues

 

 

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

Published: March 31, 2007

NAIROBI, Kenya, March 30 — Missile-toting Somali rebels plucked an Ethiopian helicopter gunship out of the sky on Friday, apparently killing the crew and sending a fireball of a signal that they are as determined — and dangerous — as ever.

 

Residents said bands of insurgents then swept into the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, and fired rocket-propelled grenades at Ethiopian troops, who invaded Somalia in December as part of a plan to back up the country’s weak transitional government. That plan seems to be running into serious difficulties.

 

Somali hospital officials said the intense urban combat, which began last week, had claimed dozens of lives. The International Committee of the Red Cross called it Mogadishu’s “worst fighting in more than 15 years.”

 

It showed no signs of letting up Friday. Frenzied mobs dragged the bodies of Ethiopian soldiers through the streets as hundreds of young insurgents massed in the center of town.

 

“We are warriors,” Abdullahi Hassan Mumin, 25, said as he stood in a crowded intersection with a rocket launcher on his shoulder.

 

The defiance, the shot-down helicopter, the explosive street fighting and the mutilated bodies are a grim replay of the last foreign intervention in Somalia in the early 1990s.

 

That mission ended in failure after Somali militiamen in Mogadishu downed two American helicopters on Oct. 3, 1993, and killed 18 American soldiers in a single battle, the infamous “Black Hawk Down” episode. American troops and United Nations peacekeepers pulled out, and Somalia has remained in a state of nearly perpetual chaos ever since.

 

The only time Mogadishu was peaceful was last year, during the brief reign of an Islamist movement that controlled much of the country.

 

The Islamists were routed by Ethiopia, with American military help, after Ethiopian and American officials labeled the Islamists a terrorist threat. Remnants are believed to be the backbone of the insurgency.

 

Somalia’s transitional government, which has been closely allied with Ethiopia, arrived in Mogadishu in late December, but it has struggled to gain the trust, or even grudging cooperation, of the people.

 

One glaring problem is the perception that although the government has representatives from all of Somalia’s major clans, it is controlled by one, the *****, which is the clan of the transitional president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, a former warlord.

 

Members of the powerful ****** clan and its many branches feel especially alienated. Ali Mohammed Gedi, the transitional prime minister, is a ****** but seems not to have much influence with many members of the clan.

 

He accused the news media of overstating the violence and told radio stations that the government was still committed to holding a clan reconciliation conference in mid-April.

 

Many people, though, are losing hope. The United Nations reported this week that 57,000 residents had fled Mogadishu, a bullet-scarred city of about two million, since February.

 

Abdi Mohammed Hirsi, a tailor and father of four, said he would pack up soon. “Haven’t people had enough fighting?” he asked. “A bad government is better than no government.”

[xiinfaniin]

Ethiopian sinks deep in Somali conflict as many civilians die

[xiinfaniin]

Dagaalo xalay galinkii dambe bilowday oo ilaa iyo haatan ka soconaya Muqdisho

 

 

Mogadishu 31, March.07 ( Sh.M.Network) Dagaalo xoogan oo bilowday xalay 2:30 Am ayaa ilaa iyo wali ka soconaya magaalada Muqdisho, iyadoo dagaaladaasi oo ah kuwo aad u culus la isku adeegsanayo hubka nuucyadiisa kala duwan.

 

Dagaalo aan lagu kala jiifan oo xalay galinkii dambe ka bilowday caasimadda Somalia ayaa ka soconaya agagaarka Stadio Muqdisho iyo wadada Xamar Bile, iyadoo ciidamada Ethiopia iyo kooxaha ka soo horjeeda ay halkaasi si xun ugu dagaalamayaan.

 

Wali lama oga qasaaraha dhabta ah ee dagaaladaan ka dhashay, iyado marba marka ka dambeysa ay sii xumaaneyso xaaladda, isla markaana dhinacyada dagaalamaya ay helayaan gurmadyo caaboon.

 

Hugunka madaafiicda iyo daryanka rasaasta ayaa si weyn looga maqlayaa magaalada Muqdisho, iyadoo lagu arkayay saakay wadooyinka boqolaal dad ah oo u badan haween iyo caruur kuwaasi oo lug uga baxsanaya caasimadda.

 

Ma jiro wax isku socod gaadiid ah oo ka jira caasimadda Somalia, ka dib markii dagaalka uu saameeyay wadooyinka qaar.

 

Dagaaladaan oo galay maalintii 3aad ayaa u muuqanaya kuwo aan kala joogsaneyn, iyadoo wali aysan jirin waan waan laga dhex wado kooxaha dagaalamaya.

 

Madaafiicda BM ka ee ciidamada Ethiopia ay ka tuurayaan dhanka Madaxtooyada ayaa ku dhaceysa Xaafadaha General Daauud, Xamar Bile, qeybo ka mid ah Towfiiq iyo Suuq-bacaad, taasina waxa ay keentay in dad badan oo rayid ah ay ku nafwaayaan, iyadoo saakayna halkaasi uu ka jiro barakicii ugu weynaa.

 

Dagaalkaan oo soconaya maalintii 3aad ayaa waxaa ku nafwaayay in ka badan 70 ruux halka tiro ku dhow 300 oo kalena ay ku dhaawacmeen.

[Xoogsade]

It is getting bloodier by the day. Wicitaanaan ku waashay aan wacaayo reerkii never knowing as soon as I hang up it might be their last. The Xabashis notified selected neighbourhoods people to give up their homes so their troops can use them as a base and a look-out.