Jelle said. Those who are looting are civilians wearing army uniforms.

[Fabregas]

Looting in Mogadishu as Ethiopians tighten grip

Mustafa Haji Abdinur

AFP

April 27, 2007

 

 

INSURGENTS: Somali insurgents take positions in a bunker to fight against Ethiopian soldiers in northern Mogadishu April 26.

(REUTERS)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

MOGADISHU -- Looting broke out across Mogadishu Friday as Ethiopian forces tightened their grip, a day after taking control of insurgent strongholds in some of the heaviest fighting in the city's history.

 

Men wearing government army uniforms attacked a Coca-Cola bottling plant and looted the property after shelling it overnight, said Ali Abdi Yusuf, the chairman of Somali Human Rights Action group.

 

They "attacked the factory and stole many things that they loaded into trucks, before fleeing," Yusuf said.

 

Residents said that men wearing army uniforms and civilian clothes also broke into houses in unpatrolled areas after the Ethiopian seizure of insurgent positions Thursday put a stop to nine days of heavy fighting.

 

Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi Thursday declared a military triumph of government-backed Ethiopian troops over the Islamist and clan fighters, after ferocious clashes that killed nearly 400 people and displaced as many as 400,000.

 

In the renewed calm, northern Mogadishu resident Nuur Hussein Jama claimed that government troops burst into his house and looted it.

 

"They destroyed the gate of a garage near my house and looted all the cars and other properties inside," he added.

 

"They are not sparing small properties," said Sakariye Mohamed, a resident of northern Mogadishu's Suuqahoola area, scene of some of the worst clashes.

 

Somali deputy defense minister Salad Ali Jelle conceded that looting was taking place, but denied that the army was involved. He said that the looters had stolen army uniforms.

 

"Government forces are now in charge of the capital and it's their duty to stop any violation against the civilians and their properties," Jelle said. "Those who are looting are civilians wearing army uniforms."

 

Ethiopian and Somali troops patrolled the city as residents solemnly collected rotting bodies that had been abandoned in the streets.

 

"They are moving from house to house, arresting people," said Ibrahim Sheikh Mao, a resident of Suuqahoola.

 

He said that the Ethiopians were studying people's elbows and hands for bruises or marks to indicate that they had been firing weapons during insurgent activity.

 

"They entered our house and arrested three people, including a woman. They looked at my hands and elbows and released me," he said.

 

"All men are fleeing their houses for fear of being arrested," said Shamso Nur, a female resident of Kamin area.

 

A witness saw at least 20 men being bundled into a military truck.

 

Residents meanwhile ventured on to the streets of northern Mogadishu and into the labyrinthine backstreets of former rebel fortifications to collect bodies.

 

"We have collected around seven bodies, including one woman," said Haji Mukhta Hassan, an elder. "They were rotten and we have taken them to a mosque to prepare them for burial."

 

Many of the tens of thousands of displaced were camped outside the city, facing disease outbreaks and without sufficient water, food, and medicine.

 

The UN World Food Program Thursday started distributing 320 tons of food to displaced people in six areas near the capital.

 

Since February, more people have been displaced internally in Somalia than anywhere else in the world, according to Stephanie Bunker, of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in a BBC interview Friday.

 

Residents still in Mogadishu, where battles three weeks ago claimed at least 1,000 lives, expressed fears for the future.

 

"I have lived in this city for long but never seen such destruction ... This city is in a horrible shape. Virtually everything is ruined," said Yusuf.

 

Amid growing international concern over the massive collateral damage, Ethiopia Thursday rejected claims that its troops were targeting civilians, with the foreign ministry saying that it had "taken every possible precaution to avoid or minimize" civilian deaths and casualties.

 

The recent fighting was some of the heaviest since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre exploded into a bloody power struggle that has defied numerous attempts to restore stability.

[Ms DD]

He said that the Ethiopians were studying people's elbows and hands for bruises or marks to indicate that they had been firing weapons during insurgent activity.

 

"They entered our house and arrested three people, including a woman. They looked at my hands and elbows and released me," he said.

"All men are fleeing their houses for fear of being arrested," said Shamso Nur, a female resident of Kamin area.

 

 

What on earth are they doing? People could have bruises by burying their dead, perhaps saving people under a ruble..

 

Grasping straws is more like.

[Fabregas]

Do Muqidsho residents keep spare military uniforms in their houses?

[Castro]

Those fighting the Ethiopians have now put down their weapons, stole a shipment of military uniforms (doesn't say which military, the TFG , or the Ethiopians) and are now rampaging through the city.

 

They, the "fighters/looters/profiteers/thugs" are only doing what comes naturally to them. Thievery, we're constantly told, runs in there veins, you see.

[salad_jelle]

Geel Jiire

 

 

its in our somali blood billiliqoo waa caadi!!!!

 

 

dontworry about small billiqo i 'm bringing back the somali Nation . What are you doin !!!!!!!

[General Duke]

^^^lol. Get the deputy Ministers pic. saxib..

[salad_jelle]

I dont want to scare them too much!!!!!

 

 

Picture will haunt them

[rudy-Diiriye]

this is no surprise cuz u basically have yeey warlord and his tugs....when this kind of opportunity happens, its a fertile ground for looting to be done by warlord gangs...!