Occupation Forces Attacked Near Muqdisho Airport

[Castro]

Sunday January 7, 2007 8:16 PM

 

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY

 

Associated Press Writer

 

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Gunmen attacked Ethiopian troops supporting the Somali government Sunday, witnesses said, in the second straight day of violence in a city struggling to emerge from more than a decade of chaos.

 

Farah Abdi Hussein, who witnessed the attack, said gunmen launched grenades at Ethiopians about 2 miles from the airport. One Somali soldier was wounded, according to a Somali military official asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.

 

The unrest comes at a precarious time for Somalia's transitional administration, which is trying to assert some control for the first time in a capital that has seen little more than chaos in the 15 years since clan warlords toppled a dictatorship and then turned on each other.

 

The government, backed by Ethiopia's military, drove out a radical Islamic militia last week. But many in predominantly Muslim Somalia resent the presence of troops from neighboring Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population and has fought two wars with Somalia.

 

On Saturday, hundreds of furious protesters took to the streets, burning tires and smashing car windows while denouncing the presence of Ethiopian forces and shouting defiance at the Somali government's call for disarming Mogadishu.

 

Two people died in Saturday's violence, including a 13-year-old boy.

 

On Sunday, a similar protest took place about 215 miles away in Belet Weyne, after Ethiopian troops there detained a Somali military commander who refused to hand over an Islamic militiaman, witnesses said. That protest also turned violent, killing a 20-year-old civilian, Abdi Nor Salah Gedi told The Associated Press by telephone.

 

It was not clear who shot the man or the teenager killed Saturday.

 

Clan elders held emergency meetings Sunday and hundreds of Somali troops patrolled Mogadishu, setting up six extra checkpoints in areas where residents burned tires and broke car windows during Saturday's protests.

 

Dahir Abdi Kulima, a chieftain of the ******, the dominant clan of southern Somalia, said the government's reliance on Ethiopia is backfiring.

 

``Since the Ethiopians arrived people are sleeping and waking with worry about what will happen next,'' Kulima told AP during a break in a meeting with about a dozen other ****** elders. ``This is a sign of upcoming problems in Somalia.''

 

Ethiopian soldiers, tanks and warplanes intervened in Somalia on Dec. 24 to defeat the Islamic movement, which had threatened to overthrow the internationally recognized government. At the time, the government controlled only the western town of Baidoa.

 

The most senior U.S. diplomat for Africa said Sunday that the United States would use its diplomatic and financial resources to support the Somali government.

 

``I think we are pushing uphill as an international community, as well as the Somali people themselves, to try to overcome their history,'' Jendayi Frazer, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Africa, told AP in Nairobi, Kenya.

 

Frazer was planning a surprise visit to Mogadishu on Sunday but called it off because the details of the trip were made public, prompting concerns for her safety.

 

The African Union has begun planning for peacekeepers and Uganda has promised at least 1,000 troops. Frazer has said she hopes the first troops would arrive in Mogadishu before the end of the month.

 

Previous peacekeeping forces, including U.S. troops, met with hostility and violence when they tried to help in the early 1990s, and leaders of the routed Islamic militia are vowing from their hideouts to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla war.

 

After meeting with Frazer in Nairobi, a top Somali politician with ties to leaders of the militant Muslim movement urged its fighters to surrender and join the peace process.

 

Sheik Sharif Hassan Aden, speaker of the transitional parliament but a strong critic of the interim government, also dropped his opposition to having foreign peacekeepers in Somalia, calling on people ``to welcome, to hail, to respect, to accommodate them in a peaceful manner.''

 

Aden is closely linked to leaders of the militant Council of Islamic Courts, whose fighters scattered into the countryside after being defeated on the battlefield last week.

 

Frazer reiterated Somalia's importance to the United States because of its location in the Horn of Africa, where the Red Sea opens into the Indian Ocean.

 

The U.S. wants to make sure Islamic extremists do not take advantage of the chaos to establish a safe haven. Frazer has said al-Qaida's East Africa cell, blamed for the bombings of two U.S. embassies and a Kenyan resort hotel, infiltrated the Islamist movement in Somalia.

 

But Frazer stressed that the U.S. will provide only a support role.

 

``Some people would like the United States to lead on this issue,'' she said. ``I would prefer that we lead from behind, and what I mean by that is pushing the Somali people first, pushing the sub-region next and then mobilizing the resources of the international community.''

 

The Guardian

[Castro]

Reuters

 

January 07, 2007

 

Guled Mohamed

 

Reuters

 

MOGADISHU – Gunmen attacked Ethiopian troops in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Sunday, residents said, as Somali and U.S. officials vowed to work together to stabilise the chaotic state.

 

In the second day of violence in Mogadishu directed at Ethiopian troops, Somali gunmen opened fire on Ethiopian forces backing the interim government.

 

"Fierce fighting went on for 15 minutes. I could hear sounds of heavy machine guns rattling," a resident, who lives nearby and declined to be named, said, adding that the fighting was so fierce it lit up the whole area.

 

A witness said a young girl was killed in the shootout at the site where just days ago a hand grenade was thrown at Ethiopian soldiers.

 

"The insurgents came with two vehicles and opened fire at government forces holding defences outside a compound where the Ethiopian soldiers are staying," a government source said.

 

"The Ethiopians were inside. Fighting ensued. Heavy fire was exchanged, one anti-tank rocket was launched by the insurgents."

 

A taxi driver in the area said three trucks carrying Ethiopian soldiers were attacked first: "It was a very heavy exchange. I was forced to lie down to avoid being hit," he said.

 

He added that the gunmen fled.

 

The violence came after Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi and Washington's top diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, met in Nairobi.

 

Frazer has been shuttling around the region as Western and African diplomats discuss an African peacekeeping force for Somalia after two weeks of war that saw Ethiopian and government troops force out Islamists who had captured much of the south.

 

Frazer has said Washington was donating $16 million (U.S.) to help fund the proposed force and she has called for dialogue between Somali groups, including "remnants" of the Islamist movement.

 

After meeting Frazer, Gedi said: "We are going to work together for the stabilisation of Somalia."

 

In scenes reminiscent of the lawlessness associated with Mogadishu, which largely stopped during six months of strict Islamist rule, crowds hurled stones and burnt tyres on Saturday to demonstrate against the forces that ousted the Islamists.

 

Witnesses said three people, including a young boy were killed when Ethiopian troops and protesters exchanged shots. A government source said only one person was killed in gunfire between protesters and police.

 

On Sunday, hundreds of Somali government soldiers patrolled the streets where the protests had taken place.

 

DEMONSTRATIONS

 

In the southcentral town of Baladwayne, hundreds took to the streets demanding Ethiopian troops free a military commander detained for refusing to hand over an ousted Islamist because of a government amnesty offer to the defeated movement.

 

The government, which was confined to the provincial town Baidoa, now wants to install itself in the capital, one of the world's most dangerous cities.

 

It had given Mogadishu residents until last Thursday to hand in their weapons or be disarmed by force. A government spokesman told local radio on Saturday the programme was postponed.

 

Few weapons have been handed in so far, as residents fear Mogadishu could slide back into the anarchy and clan violence that had gripped the city since the 1991 ouster of a dictator.

 

Hours after the Islamists fled, militiamen loyal to warlords reappeared in the city where they used to terrorise civilians.

 

President Abdullahi Yusuf asked Addis Ababa to train Somali forces, Ethiopian state television said on Saturday, after the Somali leader met Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Meles has said his troops will leave Somalia within weeks.

 

Any prolonged Ethiopian deployment would likely anger many Somalis who resent the presence of soldiers from their militarily superior neighbour, which has invaded Somalia several times in what Addis Ababa calls defensive missions.

 

Yemen's Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi, meanwhile, was quoted as saying some Islamist leaders had arrived in Yemen, creating an opportunity for talks with Somalia's government.

 

Some Islamists have vowed to fight on. Residents say they have melted into the hills in Somalia's remote southern tip where Ethiopian and government forces are hunting them. Kenya has sent troops to seal its frontier.

[nuune]

Some isla-Qumanayaal Quraan Ubaahan would deny those reports and label it UIC propaganda flying soucer!

[Alle-ubaahne]

I am here to anounce that our mujaahidiin were behind it and we are calling for more attacks against the invading forces who came to colonize our dignified Muslim populations.

 

Let the war brew and burn the invading black-Christians from Ethiopia!

[Jabhad]

Lets hope and pray for the Mujaahidiin IA.

War degdeg ah:-Ciidamo Itoobiyaan ah oo marayey wadada Km4 ee Muqdisho, ayaa waxaa rasaas xoogan ku furay ciidamo aan la garaneyn cidda ay yihiin. Dad goobta ka dhawaa ayaa hobyonet u sheegay in ciidamada Itoobiyo ay waxyeelo xoogan gaartay, ciidankii weeraryna ay ka tageen goobta.

 

www.hobyo.net

[Jabhad]

Muqdisho: Weerar lala beegsaday ciidamada cadowga Itoobiya

Posted to the Web Jan 07, 13:50

 

 

Aayaha.com, 07 Jannaayo 2007 - Waxaa caaway dagaal xooggani ka dhacay magaalada Muqdisho gaar ahaan inta u dhaxaysa Hotel Naaso-hablood iyo Xarunta CID da oo saldhig u ah ciidamada Tigreeda. Dagaalkaan ayaa ka dambeeyey kadib markii ay xoogagga xaq u dirirka Soomaaliyeed ku qaadeen dagaal qorsheysan kolonyo ka mid ah ciidamada Itoobiya oo maraysay wadada ka timaada dekadda weyn ee Muqdisho kuna siijeedey xarunta CID.

 

 

Weerarka ayaa ku bilowdey kadib markii la la beegsadey xabad nooca baasuukaha gaari nooca uuraalka ah, kadib waxaa ay goobtii isku badashay goob la isku waydaarsado hubka noocyadiisa kala duwan, waxaana halkaas ka dhacay dagaal qaatay ugu yaraan labataan daqiiqo.

 

 

Dadka degan agagaarka xaafadda Kilomitir afar oo aan teleefoonka kula xiriirney ayaa Aayaha.com u xaqiijiyay in xabadii tigreedu rideysay ay ku geeriyootey gabar yar oo Somaaliyeed halka uu nin kalena ku dhaawacmay. Wararka ayaa tilmaamaya in ugu yaraan todobo askari ka bakhtidey ciidamada Tigreeda halka tiro kale oo badana ka dhaawacantay.

 

 

Waxaa muuqata inuu si rasmi ah u bilowdey dagaalkii looga xoreynayey gayiga Soomaaliya ciidamada kusoo duuley ee Xabashida. Dagaalka noocaan ah ayaa ah midkii uu ummadda Soomaaliyeed ugu baaqay Sheekh Shariif Sheekh Axmed gudomiyaha gudiga fullinta ee Maxaakimta Islaamiga Soomaaliyeed.

 

 

Aayaha News Desk

[Jabhad]

Last Updated: Sunday, 7 January 2007, 14:59 GMT

 

 

E-mail this to a friend Printable version

 

Protests hit Somali border town

 

Many Somalis want the Ethiopians to go

 

Demonstrators in a Somali town close to the Ethiopian border have demanded the release from detention of a local official, burning tyres in protest.

He was arrested by Ethiopian troops in the town of Beledweyne after refusing to hand over a leading member of the ousted Union of Islamic Courts.

 

 

There are reports of gunfire and casualties from the town.

 

 

Ethiopian forces backing the Somali interim government have driven Islamist forces out of large areas of Somalia.

 

 

A nurse in Beledweyne, some 300km (188 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu, said three people had been brought to the town's hospital with bullet wounds.

 

 

"I think there will be more casualties because the demonstration is continuing and there is heavy fire in the town," Hassan Ali Der was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

 

 

Clashes in capital

 

 

In Mogadishu, militiamen loyal to the Somali transitional government have been patrolling the streets.

 

 

 

 

 

Thousands of Ethiopian troops - who clashed with local residents on Saturday - are camped just outside the city.

 

 

The interim President of Somalia, Abdullahi Yusuf, has returned to the government headquarters town of Baidoa after talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa with Ethiopia's Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi.

 

 

Mr Meles said Ethiopian troops should leave Somalia within two weeks.

[Jabhad]

Ciidamada Ethiopia oo weerar lala beegsadey

7 Jan 7, 2007, 14:22

 

 

 

 

Abaarihii sideedii fiidnimo ee xiliga Muqdisho ayaa la sheegay gaari Ural ah oo ay saarnaayeen in ka badan 72 Askari ay kooxo hubeysan oo la sheegay iney wateen gaari MarkII ah ay la beegsadeen qoriga 7-ka loo yaqaan.

 

Asad Max'ed Cali oo ku sugnaa xiliga falkaasi uu dhacay agagaarka KM4 ayaa GO u xaqiijiyay inuu indhihiisa saaray 7 Askari oo Ethiopian ah kuwaas oo meydkooda uu daadsanaa hareeraha wadada.

 

Goobjoogaha ayaa sheegay in uu arkay gaari Ural-ka oo gubanaya isla markana inta badan ciidamada gaarigaasi saarnaaa ay ku geeriyoodeen marka laga reebo 2 askari oo uu sheegay inuu arkay iyagoo rasaas iska furaya.

 

Ciidamada DF iyo kuwo Ethiopian ah oo ku dhowaa goobta falkaasi ka dhacay ayaa la sheegay iney rasaas aan cidna loogu aaba yeelin iska fureen iyagoo garan waayay jihada laga jiro.

 

Ilaa hada ma jirto cid xaqiijin karta khasaaraha dhabta ah ee halkaasi ka dhacay, iyadoo mas'uuliyiinta DF ay beeniyeen in Askar badan laga laayay.

 

Wixii tafaasiil dheeraad ah kala soco Garowe online

 

Dowladda Eth Ethiopia oo sheegtay in wadanka hub ka dhigis u imaan iopia, ayaa markii ugu horaysay shaaca ka qaaday in aysan wadanka Somalia , u iman hub ka dhigis, balse ay baacsanayeen kooxo Mucaarad ku ah dowladda KMG ee Somalia, oo ku sugnaa gudaha dalka.

 

Sarkaal u hadlay xukuumadda Addis Ababa, ayaa qiray in ciidamada Ethiopia, marka ay dhameystaan hawgalkooda ay dib ugu laaban doonaan wadankooda.

 

Hadalka sarkaalkani ayaa soo baxay, xilli magaalada Baladweyne laga soo sheegayo in hubkii ay ciidamada Ethiopian-ku ka qaadeen Maxaakiimta Islaamiga ah dib loogu celiyeen Maleeshiyooyinkii lahaa.

 

Ilo-wareed kale, ayaa xaqiijinaya in Ethiopian-ku ay sidoo kale dib ugu celiyeen beelihii iska lahaa hub ay kula wareegeen dagaalkii ka dhacay Gobalada dhexe.

 

Cabdi Fatax Axmad,GO

[Jabhad]

Ethiopia to flee from Somalia very soon leaving behing a new Somalia which is more divided and far from unity and reconciliation. Job well done by our number one enemey!!!!!!