Insurgents attacked the airport in Mogadishu on Tuesday and fought a heavy battle with government and Ethiopian troops as Ugandan peacekeepers arrived in Somalia’s lawless capital.
The concerted assaults, some of the heaviest in weeks, appeared timed to coincide with the arrival of hundreds of Ugandans in the vanguard of an African Union peacekeeping mission.
More than a dozen mortar strikes hit near the airport, where about 350 Ugandans were camped after landing earlier on Tuesday.
Shortly afterwards, scores of masked fighters fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns at government troops and their Ethiopian allies at a base in Mogadishu’s industrial area.
At least two civilians were killed in the attack, said a local reporter trapped by the gunfire at a nearby hospital.
The heavy fighting and mortar attacks underlined the tough task facing African Union troops in helping restore peace in a country mired in anarchy since central rule crumbled in 1991.
A witness who saw mortar bombs hit the airport said there was no immediate word on any casualties.
”The military side of the airport has been hit. We cannot cross from this side to the other side. We don’t know if anyone has been wounded there,” the witness said.
Most of the Ugandans were flown in by the Algerian air force in C-130 cargo planes.
The last foreign peacekeeping mission, a well-funded United States and United Nations operation, ended in failure and withdrawal in 1995 after relentless street battles with local militiamen.
Last week, 35 Ugandan officers landed in Baidoa, the interim government’s temporary capital in south-central Somalia. More are expected to arrive in the coming days to bring the Ugandan contingent to about 1 600.
The proposed 8 000-strong AU force is designed to help Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf’s government extend its shaky authority over the Horn of Africa country.
Yusuf, backed by Ethiopian armour and air power in a lightning war over Christmas and New Year, routed rival Islamists who held most of southern Somalia for six months.
They fled into hiding vowing to wage holy war against foreign troops and guerrilla attacks have gradually built up.
Guerrilla warfare
The insurgents are suspected of being a mix of defeated Islamists and clan militiamen resisting central rule that would end their private fiefdoms.
Two unmarked Russian-made Antonov cargo aircraft flew in white military vehicles for the Ugandans with AU markings, including armoured personnel carriers.
The AU force is needed to replace Ethiopian troops eager to pull out after defeating the Islamists.
But as with its previous peacekeeping operation, in Sudan’s Darfur region, the AU faces a shortage of money and equipment.
”I hope our partners will help us overcome the funding and logistical problems facing the AU,” said Said Djinnit, the group’s Commissioner for Peace and Security.
Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi and Burundi are also expected to send troops to join the AU force, but pledges so far make up only about half of the required number of soldiers.
The Ugandans are assigned to patrol Mogadishu, one of the world’s most dangerous and gun-infested cities.
None of the previous 13 attempts at a central government since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991 have succeeded in taming the coastal city.
”Our mission is not to fight, but if the lives of troops are endangered, they have the right to fight back,” Djinnit said in Addis Ababa. — Reuters