Hundreds of Ethiopian troops trying to protect Somalia’s fragile government went house-to-house searching for weapons on Wednesday, a daunting task in a city teeming with firearms.
Several people were arrested and accused of being linked to an insurgency blamed for a string of deadly suicide bombs and other attacks. The insurgents vow to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla war unless the country becomes an Islamic state.
”These operations are part of the routine security tasks carried out with the help of our friends, the Ethiopians,” Deputy Defence Minister Salad Ali Jelle said.
The troops also arrested Abdi Iman, a leading member of Mogadishu’s dominant Hawiye clan, a spokesperson for the clan said.
There was no word on why Iman was arrested, said the spokesperson, Ahmed Diriye.
Ethiopia, the region’s military powerhouse, was vital in helping the Somali government drive out Islamic radicals who ruled much of the country for six months last year.
But many in predominantly Muslim Somalia resent having troops from Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population. The countries fought two brutal wars, the last in 1977.
Residents of Mogadishu said the operation had been going on since Tuesday, causing tension and fear.
”I am not a member of the insurgents, I am an independent businessman who runs a shop, but I am afraid of being arrested because I look Islamic, with my long beard and the way I dress,” said Sheik Abdulqadir.
Another resident, Shamsa Mohamed Ilmi, said her 16-year-old son was shot and killed by Ethiopian troops last week.
”These troops are very suspicious, they shot him as he was trying to take his mobile phone from his pocket,” she said.
The Ethiopian troops come under regular insurgent attacks.
This week, Ethiopian troops fired at a would-be suicide bomber speeding toward their base, blowing up the car and killing the bomber and a civilian standing nearby.
Somalia descended into chaos in 1991 when warlords ousted long-time dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another. The government was formed in 2004 with the help of the United Nations, but it has struggled to assert any real control throughout the country. — Sapa-AP