War-weary Somalis heaved sighs of relief on Monday as Islamist militia claimed to have wrested complete control of the capital from a United States-backed warlord alliance, ending months of bloody fighting. Yet many voiced concern at what the future would bring, with the city’s 11 Sharia courts vowing to re-establish order.
Somali Islamists on Monday declared victory over a United States-backed warlord alliance and prepared to take over Mogadishu after four months of bloody fighting. Having captured nearly all of Mogadishu on the weekend, the Islamists were formalising their seizure in a surrender and handover meeting with remnants of the alliance.
Thousands of angry Somali Muslims on Friday denounced the United States and a US-backed warlord alliance fighting Islamic militia in the lawless capital, Mogadishu, vowing to destroy their opponents. Chanting anti-US slogans and comparing President George Bush to a Nazi, about 5Â 000 Muslims gathered in southern Mogadishu.
Somali elders on Friday pressed for a truce between Islamic militia and a United States-backed warlord alliance after months of deadly violence in the lawless capital as gunmen from both sides reinforced positions. With tension high in Mogadishu, elders scurried to secure an elusive ceasefire.
Fresh fighting erupted on Thursday between Islamic militia and a United States-backed warlord alliance on the outskirts of the lawless Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing at least three. Stung by the loss on Wednesday of a key position in north-east Mogadishu, the alliance attacked the Islamists at the nearby village of El Arfid.
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/ 29 December 2005
Somalia’s transitional president on Thursday appealed for -million in urgent aid for about two million southern Somalis facing severe food and water shortages amid an increasing threat of famine across large swaths of the drought-stricken Horn of Africa.
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/ 21 October 2005
Celebratory gunfire erupted in the Somali capital late on Thursday on the release from jail of Mogadishu’s police chief, who was arrested in Sweden this week on suspicion of genocide. Militiamen in control of the bullet-scarred city unleashed a torrent of anti-aircraft artillery and machine gun fire into the sky after Colonel Abdi Hassan Awlae Qeybdid confirmed reports of his release in a live radio interview.
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/ 13 October 2005
Highly organised, well-armed and increasingly brazen pirates have turned the unpatrolled waters off the Somali coast into a maritime disaster zone and attack and seize merchant vessels seemingly at will. Amid faltering efforts to restore a functioning government to the mainland, Somalia’s Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden sea lanes have been taken over by ransom-seeking warlords, officials say.
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/ 29 September 2005
Voters in Somalia’s breakaway republic of Somaliland cast ballots on Thursday to elect lawmakers amid hopes the exercise will bring them international recognition as a sovereign state. About 800 000 of Somaliland’s estimated 3,5-million people are eligible to vote in the election.
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/ 23 September 2005
Authorities in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland said on Friday they have arrested a senior al-Qaeda operative allegedly in the region to organise attacks on local leaders and foreigners. The operative was arrested along with two other al-Qaeda members after an overnight shootout in the capital, Hargeisa.