Fighting has resumed in the Somali capital Mogadishu, where Islamist
insurgents fired mortars at the presidential palace. More than 50
people have now been killed in fighting between insurgents and
pro-government forces since Thursday.
For the fifth day,
Islamist insurgents exchanged machine gun and mortar fire with
government troops and allied militias. Hours after Somali president
Sharif Sheikh Ahmed held a news conference at his Mogadishu residence,
Islamist insurgents fired several mortars into the compound.
Insurgents also attacked a base housing African Union peacekeepers from
Burundi, and gun battles took place in several areas of the city.
Latest round of fighting is fiercest
The
latest round of fighting is the fiercest that Mogadishu has seen in
months, bringing activity in much of the capital to a standstill.
Witnesses say the clashes have left more than 200 people wounded and
prompted the largest wave of people to flee the city since the start of
the year.
The President of Somalia's fragile government, Sheikh
Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, says the government will defend the country's
sovereignty and use any means necessary to stop the fighting. He
accused foreign countries of pursuing their own interests in Somalia.
While he did not name any countries, the government has accused Eritrea
of funneling arms to the insurgents.
Insurgents control key locations
Witnesses say insurgents
have taken control of several key locations in the capital, including
the stadium, the defense ministry and a police station.
But on
Sunday Somalia Information Minister Farhan Mohamoud denied the reports.
He blamed the violence on foreign fighters within the insurgency.
Groups
opposed to peace attacked government bases and Somali social centers,
he said. These fighters want to turn the country over to foreigners.
Somalis and the international community should realize that the leaders
of the fighting are foreigners.
Link to al-Qaida
Al-Shabab, in particular, has
ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network, and Western governments have
expressed concern about foreign terrorists using Somalia, much of which
is under the control of al-Shabab, as a haven. Al-Shabab has been
joined in the latest clashes by members of Hizbul Islam, a coalition of
hardline Islamist militias.
The Somali government has
international backing but exercises little control on the ground. Under
President Sharif, a moderate Islamist and a former insurgent leader who
took office in January, the government has been trying to reconcile
with other Islamist factions, but has vowed to take a harder stance in
recent weeks, as insurgents have continued to carry out attacks.
An al-Shabab leader, Ali Dheere Mohamud, said the government was beholden to its international backers.
The
media claims the fighting is between Islamic fighters, he said, but
that is wrong. It is between Islamic fighters and apostates who work
for the Ugandan and Burundian troops who help the American and other
Western governments. Their goal in the fighting is to eradicate Muslims
from Somalia.
Peacekeepers make little impact
About 4,300 peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi
are deployed in the capital. Undermanned, they have had little success
in stemming the violence, and have become an increasing target for
insurgents, particularly since Ethiopian troops withdrew from the
country in January.
Thousands have died, and an estimated one
million have been displaced since the Islamist insurgency began in
2006. That chapter of violence was just the latest in a country that
has been without a proper central government since 1991. Last month,
international donors pledged over $200 million to improve security in
Somali.
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