News from OCCUPIED SOMALIA.

[Jabhad]

Fears stalk Somalia's capital once again

By Mohamed Olad Hassan

BBC News, Mogadishu

 

Life in Mogadishu is still full of fear - the scars of Somalia's 16 year-old anarchy make everybody in the capital suspicious about the future.

 

 

There is no reliable security because the streets have become a no-man's land.

 

 

The government troops, and the Ethiopians forces who supported them to take the capital from the Islamists, are still confined to a few military compounds.

 

 

Periodic gunfire still resounds about the city between various freelance militia and bandits who are taking advantage of the power vacuum.

 

 

The troops are concentrating on their own safety rather than that of the entire city.

 

 

Unknown gunmen have carried out four hit-and-run attacks against the government troops and their Ethiopian backers in the past two weeks.

 

 

At least five people were killed and seven others wounded in the attacks.

 

 

'Mad drivers'

 

 

Although the real identity of the attackers is unclear, it is widely believed they are the remnants of the Islamic courts' militias or others unhappy with the presence of the Ethiopians.

 

 

 

Mogadishu residents are fed up with the warlords

 

 

Such random attacks have created fear among the civilians who had enjoyed relative safety under the Islamists' six-month rule .

 

 

"Walking in the city at night is a scary one," says bus driver Ali Botan Sa'id.

 

 

"Cars drive like mad and there are no traffic rules.

 

 

"You can drive in any lane so it's difficult to avoid military vehicles and their possible attackers as you never know where they may appear from."

 

 

Mohamed Mohamud Hilowle, a 28-year-old father of two whose family fled the recent fighting around the government base of Baidoa to a displacement camp in Mogadishu, told me his children go for days without food.

 

 

"I work with my wheelbarrow to transport goods for people and pay the little money I earn for the food of my family; but for a week I was in bed for malaria and my children were in the streets begging," he says.

 

 

Mr Hilowle says his one strong wish is to get a lasting peace so he can send his children to school.

 

 

"I need peace; I need a government and I need employment as a labourer to support myself and my family," he says.

 

 

Checkpoints

 

 

Both the interim president and the prime minister are now in Mogadishu attempting to win the confidence of local people, civil society groups and academics.

 

 

 

These guys thrive on anarchy and will never make peace

 

 

Shop owner Mohamud Digsi

 

 

They have also met with two former veteran politicians, Abdulkassim Salat Hassan and Ali Mahdi Muhammad, who each have headed failed interim administrations during the civil war.

 

 

The advice from one and all is to get Ethiopian troops to withdraw from the country and replace them with African peacekeepers.

 

 

Meanwhile, the warlords who terrorised the capital before the rise of the Islamic courts, are back but are getting short shrift from residents who are fed up with them and clamouring for governance.

 

 

But many fear that the clan-based warlords could organise themselves again if the lawlessness and insecurity persists.

 

 

Roadblocks, where clan militia raise funds by extorting money from hapless motorists, have appeared on roads leading out of the capital.

 

 

On Wednesday, police raided one checkpoint and 11 gunmen were captured and remanded to jail.

 

 

'Revenge'

 

 

Mohamud Digsi, who runs a chemist shop, is pessimistic about hopes of reconciliation.

 

 

 

 

 

For the government to stamp its authority on the capital, Mogadishu's clan militia need to join the army, which at the moment is mainly composed of soldiers from distrusted northern clans loyal to the president.

 

 

But Mr Digsi does not see warlords easily complying to calls for disarmament and army integration.

 

 

"These guys thrive on anarchy and will never make peace," he says.

 

 

His feelings are also shared by taxi driver Aweis Mohamud.

 

 

"Somalia is a nation held hostage by the gun and warlords - and unless real reconciliation is agreed among the various clans there is little chance of success for any government," he says.

 

 

No-one is committed to help us. Every Somali is for himself

 

 

Businessman Salad Ahmadey

 

 

The air attacks carried out in the remote south of the country have also created fear among the ordinary Somalis.

 

"The US has been silent about what has been going on in Somalia since the failure of the UN-led peace operation in 1995," says Abdu-kadir Abdulle whose relative died in an air strike on Sunday near Ras Kamboni.

 

 

"Now it has started bombing our civilians, it is really revenge for the 18 US soldiers killed here," he says, referring to the incident in 1993 when two US helicopters were downed in Mogadishu.

 

 

Others do not necessarily interpret the US intervention as revenge, but think it spells an end to any hope of meaningful help from the US to find a lasting peace.

 

 

Salad Ahmadey agrees and says the US is only pursuing its "war on terror" and is not really interested in seeing Somalia stand on its own two feet.

 

 

"No-one is committed to help us. Every Somali is for himself," the 25-year-old businessman says.

 

 

Are you in Mogadishu? Send us your experiences using the form below.

[Jabhad]

Somali Capital Awash in Anger At Ethiopia, U.S., Interim Leaders

 

 

By Stephanie McCrummen

Washington Post Foreign Service

Thursday, January 11, 2007; A21

 

 

NAIROBI, Jan. 10 -- A messy, low-level battle for control of the battered streets of Mogadishu continued Wednesday, as a fighter shot a rocket-propelled grenade at a convoy of Ethiopian trucks passing through the combustible Somali capital.

 

 

The situation is so confused and the city so fractured and armed that the attacks, recounted by witnesses, could have come from any number of groups frustrated with the presence of Ethiopian troops, who last month swept a popular Islamic movement from power on behalf of the weak, U.S.-backed transitional government that is now struggling to assert control

 

Former fighters loyal to the ousted Islamic Courts movement are hiding in the city's byzantine tin-patch neighborhoods. Sub-clans and sub-sub-clans are angry with Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, who they say is favoring his own people as he doles out power and who has announced intentions to forcibly disarm an insecure city fortified with guns.

 

 

And many Somalis are enraged over the U.S. airstrike in the southern tip of the country early Monday, which was aimed at suspects in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania who are thought to be among the ousted Islamic leaders on the run along the marshy coast near the Kenyan border.

 

 

"We are afraid of a long war," said businessman Abdulahi Mohamed Mohamud, 31, speaking by telephone from Mogadishu. "And people are angry at the Ethiopian troops."

 

 

The current spate of violence began Saturday, as hundreds of Somalis flooded the streets, shouting at Ethiopian troops to leave the city, smashing cars, burning tires and throwing stones in protests that were sparked in part by rumors that the Ethiopians were about to go door-to-door confiscating weapons.

 

 

After skirmishes between militias and Ethiopian troops Sunday and Monday, a full-fledged gun battle raged for several hours Tuesday amid battered buildings and shops in a busy part of the city called Kilometer Four. A body, reportedly of a man who launched a rocket-propelled grenade at Ethiopian troops Tuesday, lay in the road all night and into Wednesday morning, when a Somali police officer dragged it off. Three Somali police officers were reported killed in Tuesday's fighting, and a dozen people were injured, though accounts of casualties differ.

 

 

Wednesday afternoon, another grenade was launched at a convoy of Ethiopian trucks, wounding one civilian and, according to a local news agency, killing at least one government soldier. It was unclear whether Ethiopians were hit.

 

 

Since the Islamic fighters were pushed out, the city has been slowly returning to the hands of militias and thieves. Most attacks since Sunday have occurred in areas considered strongholds of the Ayr, a powerful and well-armed sub-sub-clan and a former backer of the Islamic Courts.

 

 

The transitional government, with the help and handicap of the Ethiopians, is racing to establish its authority on the streets. On Wednesday, Somali police dismantled two roadblocks by force and arrested 11 militiamen, government officials said. And Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, who only recently returned to Mogadishu after a 40-year exile, met with a key leader of the Ayr, Abdi Qasim, a move that some analysts said could pacify a portion of the city.

 

 

The meeting "will help if they understood each other," said Mohamed Haji, 38, a columnist for a local newspaper, speaking by phone from Mogadishu. "Qasim was an opponent of the Ethiopian intervention, and his clan was supporting the [islamic Courts movement]. So it's very important to negotiate with him."

 

 

Haji and others remained concerned, however, that new U.S. airstrikes would further agitate the city.

 

 

The Pentagon and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi denied Wednesday that U.S. warplanes had conducted additional attacks after the one Monday. But a Somali government official said airstrikes -- whether American or Ethiopian -- were "ongoing." An air attack is "going on today, and probably it may go on tomorrow," Abdirizak Hassan, chief of staff to the Somali premier, said Wednesday.

 

 

Two witnesses in Kismaayo, a port city about 60 miles from the area hit Monday, said they saw two military aircraft overhead about 1:45 p.m. Wednesday.

 

 

On Tuesday, Hassan told The Washington Post that U.S. military officials had reported to him that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, considered the chief organizer of the embassy bombings, was killed in the airstrike Monday. U.S. officials have cautioned against reports that Fazul was among the targets or was killed and said the main target was another al-Qaeda figure, Abu Talha al-Sudani.

 

 

In New York on Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council began debating the conflict. In a closed session, Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nations' undersecretary for political affairs, urged the interim government to begin talks with clan leaders, clerics and moderate elements of the Islamic Courts movement, saying the deployment of a peacekeeping force would be "problematic" without a political settlement in place, according to a copy of his statement.

 

 

He noted a pledge by Uganda to provide 1,000 troops for an East African peacekeeping mission and said Malawi, Nigeria and South Africa are considering participation.

 

 

Several envoys expressed concern that U.S. airstrikes could undercut international efforts to calm Somalia. But diplomats from China, Qatar and other countries suggested the United States may have a legal basis for intervention: a request for help from Somalia's interim leadership.

 

 

Away from the United Nations, diplomats from France, Italy, Egypt, the Arab League and African Union have criticized the U.S. air operation, saying it will destabilize Somalia further.

 

 

Staff writers Karen DeYoung in Washington, Colum Lynch in New York and special correspondent Mohamed Ibrahim in Mogadishu contributed to this report.

[Xoogsade]

More of the same news, this time robbery.

 

http://www.onkod.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2064

[Jabhad]

^IA, this is just the begining of a long war of liberation to free Somalia from occupation. May Allah help the brave men and women in the forefront of the war to free Somalia from enemy occupation.

[Castro]

And someone earlier posted an article about how safe Muqdisho is. Sometimes I wonder if those people are fooling themselves for it's sure as hell they're not fooling anyone else.

[Jabhad]

 

Qaar ka mid ah Hogaamiye kooxeedyadii Ururkii Argagaxiso la dirirka ayaa maanta ka soo laabtay Magaalada Baydhabo oo ay howlo gaar ah u tageen.

 

 

 

Hobyonet. Muqdisho. Khamiis, Jan,11, 2007

 

Xubanahaasi ka tirsanaa Ururka argagixiso la dirirka ayaa waxey halkaasi u tageen wadatashi ku saabsan sidii dowladda federalka iyo iyagu ay u wada shaqeyn lahaayeen .

 

Xubnahaasi ayaa maanta isaga soo tagay isla markaana aanu ka qeyb galinshir xubnaha baarlamaanku ay uga doodayeen xaalada dalka iyo muddo lixda bilood ee soo socota in uu baarlamaanku go'aamiyo mooshin xaalada de dega ah ee dalka.

 

Warar hoose ayaa sheegaya in xubnaha baarlamaanka ay isku Khilaafsan yihiin arrintaasi.

 

Xubnahaasi ayaa waxaa ka mid ahaa: Max'ed Qanyare Afrax, Cumar Max'ud Max'ed, Muuse Suudi Yalaxow iyo Bootaan Ciise Caalin.

 

Xubnahaasi ayaa maanta soo gaaray magaalada Muqdisho, iyadoo dowlada federalkuna ay sheegtay in ay iska kaashanayaan howlaha amni sugida magaalada Muqdisho.

 

Mas'uuliyiintaasi ayaa la sheegay in aanu looga maarmin soo celinta Nabada Magaalada Muqdisho , maadaama ay hore u maamuli jireen goobo kala duwan oo magalada ka mid ah oo uu mid walba gaar u goostay.

 

 

 

Axmed Daahir

 

Hobyonet. Muqdisho Soomaaliya

[Xoogsade]

Muqdisho is a city under-siege gripped by fear and mistrust. Where is the safety saxib? People are carrying their sick to the doctor on carts old style because the public transportation was banned from the streets by Amxaaro troops. There is no way one can explain away existing problems in Muqdisho today unless there is total disconnect(as is the case with the tfg supporters anyway) from the people of that town. Muqdisho's dying status is called pacification in their quarter.

[Jabhad]

Maleeshiyo weerartay Hotel Ambassador

11 Jan 11, 2007, 14:46

 

 

 

 

Maleeshiyo aad u hubeysneed isla markaana wadatay labo gaari ayaa caawa abaarihii 9:25 daqiiqo waxa ay bambaano ku tureen Hotel Ambassador ee magaalada Muqdisho, xili ay halkaasi jiifeen saraakiil Soomaali ah iyo kuwo Ethiopian ah.

 

 

 

Waxaa israsaaseeyay sida la xaqiijiyay ciidaamada DF oo kaashanaya kuwa Ethiopia iyo Maleeshiyaadkii weerarka soo qaaday, iyadoo halkaasi uu ku dhaawacmay sida la sheegay Askari ilaalo khaas ah u ahaa Jeneraal Cali Madoobe oo hotelka xiligaasi jiifay.

 

 

 

Askariga dhaawacmay ayaa loo qaaday Isbitaal Madiina ee Muqdisho si loogu daaweeyo, GO oo la xiriirtay Dr. Sheekh Nur Salaad Cilmi ayaa sheegay in xaalada Askari ay aad u liidato isla markaana uu haatan qaliin ku socdo.

 

 

 

Darbiga Hotelka ayaa la sheegay inuu aad u burburay waxaana aad u dhib badan in la helo khasaaraha dhabta ah ee weerarkaasi uu dhaliyay iyadoo ciidamada DF iyo kuwo Ethiopian-ka ay haatan difaac ka galeen agagaarka Hotelka.

 

 

 

Xildhibaan Cabdi Cabdulle Saciid Jini Boqor oo isagu degan hotelka isla markaana joogay xiliga uu falka halkaasi ka dhacay ayaa GO u sheegay inuu kuso baraarugay dhawaaqa rasaarta labada dhinac ay is weydaarsanayaan labada dhinac waxuuna qiray in Hotelka ay caawa jiifeen Saraakiil Ethiopian ah.

 

 

 

Weerarada habeenkii loo gaysanayo goobaha ay dagan yihiin saraakiisha dowlada iyo kuwa Ethiopia ee magaalada Muqdisho ayaa ah kuwa soo badanaya iyada oo ay u egtahay in weeraro qorsheysan lagu soo qaadayo goobahaas.

 

 

 

Cabdi Fatax Axmad,GO

[Jabhad]

US attack in Somalia killed innocents - Arab League

Thu Jan 11, 2007 8:20 AM GMT CAIRO (Reuters) - The Arab League said on Wednesday U.S. military action in Somalia had killed "many innocent victims" and demanded that Washington refrain from such attacks.

 

Somali officials said U.S. and Ethiopian aircraft struck new targets in Somalia on Wednesday as they hunted al Qaeda suspects and defeated Islamist fighters.

 

But U.S. officials said there had been no new U.S. air strikes in Somalia since an operation on Monday, and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi also said there had been only one U.S. air attack with no civilian casualties.

 

U.S. government sources said U.S. ally Ethiopia, which defeated Islamist forces in a lightning war last month, had conducted further air strikes since Monday.

 

In Cairo, the Arab League's Assistant Secretary-General Ahmed Ben Hilli said: "We demand that these strikes which now target civilians and led to the killing of many innocent victims be stopped."

 

"There was no U.N. Security Council authorisation for the U.S. forces to hit Somali areas," he told reporters.

 

Ben Hilli also criticised the interim Somali government for backing the air strikes. "We'd hoped they'd care about for the sovereignty of their country ... instead of calling for foreign intervention," he said.

 

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf has said the air strikes were justified because they targeted al Qaeda militants.

 

In late December, the Arab League called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces in Somalia after Ethiopian troops ousted Islamist forces that ruled the capital Mogadishu and large parts of southern Somalia.

 

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit also criticised the air strikes and called on the Somali government to resume talks with the Islamists. President Yusuf said on Monday there would be no negotiations with Islamists.

[Jabhad]

The meeting of warlords in Somalia.

 

Kulankaan oo ka dhacay xarunta Madaxtooyada ee Villa Somalia ayaa dhinaca dowladda Somalia waxaa uga qeybgalay Madaxweynaha dowladda Somalia C/laahi Yuusuf Axmed iyo Ra'isulwasaare Cali Max'ed Gedi, iyadoo kulankaana ay ka qeybgaleen hogaamiye kooxeedyadii Muqdisho ka arimin jirey oo ay ka mid ahaayeen Muuse Suudi, Max'ed qanyare, Bootaan Ciise Caalim, Cuma Filish, Cabdi Qeybdiid iyo Cabdi Nuurre Siyaad.

 

Afhayeenka dowladda Somalia C/raxmaan Diinaari ayaa saxaafadda la hadlay ka dib kulankaasi, isagoo sheegay in labada dhinac ay ka wada xaajoodeen sidii la isaga kaashan lahaa soo celinta amaanka guud ee dalka, gaar ahaan caasimadda Somalia, iyadoo sidoo kale uu sheegay in laga wada arinsaday qaabka ugu haboon ee hogaamiye kooxedyada ay hubkooda iyo maleeshiyadooda ay ugu wareejin lahaayeen dowladda Somalia.

 

Diinaari ayaa sheegay in maleeshiyaadka lagu xareyn doono xerooyin dowladda ay ugu talo gashay, iyadoo dowladda ay balan qaadeyso xuquuqda ay leeyihiin maleeshiyadaasi.

 

Guddi Militari ah oo labada dhimaca kala matalaya ayaa loo saaray howsha hub ka uruurinta hogaamiye kooxeedyada, iyadoo gudigaasi ay ka maqnaayeen 4 xubnood oo ka kala imaan Lahaa hogaamiye kooxeedyada.

 

Diinaari waxa uu sheegay in hogaamiye kooxeedyada ay balan qaadeen in ay la shaqeynayaan dowladda isla markaana ay ka go'an tahay nabadeynta caasimadda.

 

Ra'isulwasaare Geedi oo isna kulankaasi ka hadlay ayaa waxa uu sheegay in kulanka looga dooday amaan ku soo dabaalida caasimadda.

 

Waa markii ugu horeysay oo caasimadda Somalia ay ku kulmaan Hogaamiye kooxeedyo iyo Mas'uuliyiinta sar sare ee dowladda Somalia.

[Castro]

Is that fool wearing the same shirt for the third straight day? What happened? Zenawi didn't send enough laundry detergent?

 

What a miserable lot that sits on that couch.

[Pujah]

^^That is his lucky shirt…..leave the old man alone yakhee

[Faarax-Brawn]

I am always curious, Meel unbeey fiirayan ee, What, who & where could they be looking @? War balayo. Mise they be getting live updates from Melez on their next move?

 

Ragi Somaleed,Ma sidan iyo silicaan baa udambeyde? What would Siyad Barre have said to these Goons? Oo nin Habashi ka dhageysanaya hadal?

[Jabhad]

By Andrew Cawthorne

 

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The United States appealed on Friday for a speedy deployment of African peacekeepers in Somalia to prevent a "security vacuum" that could spawn fresh anarchy after a war to oust militant Islamists.

 

Washington launched an air strike in Somalia on Monday aimed at an al Qaeda cell in what was its first overt military involvement in the country since a disastrous peacekeeping mission ended in 1994.

 

That attack killed up to 10 al Qaeda allies, but missed its main target of three top suspects, the U.S. government said.

 

Reuters Pictures

 

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U.S. ally Ethiopia, which is the Horn of Africa's major power, wants to withdraw its soldiers in the coming weeks after helping the interim Somali government rout the Islamists over the New Year.

 

But diplomats fear that would leave President Abdullahi Yusuf's government vulnerable against the multiple threats of remnant Islamists vowing a guerrilla war, warlords who are seeking to re-create their fiefdoms, and competing clans.

 

"Deploying an African stabilization force into Somalia quickly is vitally important to support efforts to achieve stability," Michael Ranneberger, U.S. ambassador for Kenya and Somalia, said in a newspaper opinion piece.

 

He urged African countries to commit forces to a peacekeeping mission. "(It) will enable the rapid withdrawal of Ethiopian forces without creating a security vacuum."

[Jabhad]

Nomadic Herdsmen Innocent Targets of Bombing in Somalia, Says OXFAM

By Joe De Capua

Washington

12 January 2007

 

Beatrice Karanja of OXFAM mp3

Beatrice Karanja of OXFAM ra

 

 

The relief organization OXFAM says nomadic herdsmen have been innocent targets of bombing in the south of the country. Beatrice Karanja, a spokesperson for OXFAM in Nairobi, tells VOA the bombings have affected some of the agency’s humanitarian water and sanitation programs.

 

“Oxfam has been receiving reports from our partner organizations in Somalia that nomadic herdsmen have been targeted in recent bombing raids. And what this has been is bombs have hit vital water sources, as well as the nomads and their animals, who had been gathering around large fires at night in order to ward off mosquitoes. What OXFAM is concerned about is that under international law there’s a duty to distinguish between military and civilian targets. But this principle isn’t being adhered to and eventually, as we see, innocent people are paying the price,” she says.

 

Karanja says OXFAM and other humanitarian organizations need greater access in Somalia to help those who’ve been displaced or affected in other ways by the recent fighting.

 

 

NAIROBI, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Air attacks against fugitive Islamists in south Somalia in recent days have mistakenly targeted nomadic herdsmen gathering round fires, killing 70, British-based aid agency Oxfam said on Friday.

 

"Under international law, there is a duty to distinguish between military and civilian targets," Oxfam added, citing its local partner organisations in Somalia for the information.

 

Washington sent a warplane into Somalia on Monday to try and take out what U.S. officials say are top al Qaeda suspects hiding with the Islamists.

 

Ethiopia, which helped the interim government of Somalia oust rival Islamists from Mogadishu over the New Year, has also been carrying out air raids against the retreating fighters.

 

While some Somali sources have reported scores of deaths, there has been no independent confirmation on the ground.

 

"Oxfam is receiving reports from its partner organisations in Somalia that nomadic herdsmen have been mistakenly targeted in recent bombing raids," Oxfam said in a statement released in Nairobi.

 

"According to the reports from local organisations in Afmadow district, bombs have hit vital water sources as well as large groups of nomads and their animals who had gathered round large fires at night to ward off mosquitoes.

 

"Further reports have also confirmed that bombings have claimed the lives of 70 people in the district."

 

Since the open warfare started in late December, some 70,000 Somalis have fled their homes, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation, Oxfam said.