Clashes broke out in Mogadishu for the third day on Friday between gunmen and Ethiopian troops helping the government fight an insurgency many fear could plunge Somalia back into civil war.
Witnesses heard shelling and cannon fire near a former defence headquarters, the scene of repeated fighting between insurgents and the government and its Ethiopian allies since Wednesday. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
At least 16 people have been killed and hundreds more wounded this week in the bloodiest clashes since the government and Ethiopian troops seized the coastal city from rival Islamists three months ago.
Thousands of residents have fled almost daily guerrilla attacks in Mogadishu that were blamed on Islamist remnants and clansmen angry at a government trying to restore central rule to Somalia after 16 years of lawlessness.
Residents say the latest violence coincides with a government-led disarmament drive which has provoked particular resistance from Mogadishu’s dominant Hawiye clan.
President Abdullahi Yusuf’s government says it wants to secure the gun-infested city before a reconciliation conference scheduled for April 16.
Many Hawiye regard the operation as an attempt by Yusuf, from the rival Darod clan, to marginalise them.
Worse to come?
Hawiye elder Ahmed Diriye said senior members of his clan met Ethiopian military and security officials on Thursday to discuss their grievances.
”One question we asked was why only one … clan is being disarmed and targeted with mortar shells on a daily basis,” Diriye said. ”If no one listens to us, we will fight to the last man,” he told Reuters.
Diriye said he hoped there would be another meeting with the Ethiopians in coming days. A tentative agreement on a ceasefire made on Thursday was broken by Friday’s clashes.
Residents and officials fear the death toll will rise from this week’s fighting.
”The dead are not making it to hospitals and it is too dangerous for our staff to be out on the streets, so there is no way to know yet,” said Pascal Hundt of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
”By working day and night, the doctors and nurses there have been able to keep treating the wounded. But we are very concerned about the situation,” he said from Nairobi.
Analysts say there may be worse violence to come with disgruntled factions likely to exploit popular anger at any forced disarmament and at foreign troops.
The Red Cross estimated 300 were injured this week.
”This is a tragic situation,” the UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, Eric Laroche said.
”Tens of thousands of people are fleeing Mogadishu and civilian casualties are mounting daily.”
He called the dragging of soldiers’ bodies through the streets on Wednesday ”barbaric” and ”a gross violation” of humanitarian law. – Reuters