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Ahmed met warlords in the presidential palace in Mogadishu
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January 12, 2007, 19:45
Somali warlords agreed today to merge their forces into a new national army to tame the anarchic nation, but fighting outside the presidential palace where they met showed how hard that task will be. Warlord gunmen trying to force their way inside fought Somali troops and the shootout - the kind of clash commonplace in Mogadishu for the last 15 years - killed a handful of people.
It underscored the huge challenge the fledgling government of Abdullahi Yusuf, the Somali president, faces to bring peace and security to the country after ousting Islamists who had held the capital and the south for half a year.
"The warlords have promised to hand over their weapons and militias to the government," said Abdirahman Dinari, a government spokesperson, adding that a committee had been formed to work out details of what many see as a key step in calming Somalia.
Gunmen try to invade Villa Somalia
Dinari said warlord gunmen tried to force their way inside Villa Somalia, the presidential compound of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre until his 1991 ouster ushered in anarchy.
The villa, where Yusuf came on Monday in his first visit to the city since 1994 despite being elected president two years ago, is protected by Ethiopian and Somali government troops who ousted the Islamists in a lightning offensive late in December. The Islamists, who wanted to impose sharia law, had driven out the warlords from much of southern Somalia after taking control of Mogadishu in June following four months' fighting.
Bombs by firelight
Now the Islamists are on the run, and British-based aid agency Oxfam said air raids to pursue them and their suspected Al Qaeda allies hiding in southern Somalia had mistakenly killed 70 nomadic herdsmen.
Washington sent a warplane into Somalia on Monday to try to kill top Al Qaeda suspects and Ethiopian aircraft have pounded the area for days in an attempt to finish a war that began before Christmas. While some Somali sources have reported scores of deaths, there has been no independent confirmation. Both Ethiopia and the US deny hitting civilians.
The UN said food had begun reaching 6 000 fleeing Somalis who were blocked from entering Kenya after Nairobi sealed the border to stop routed Islamists escaping.
Washington's strike was its first overt military involvement in Somalia since a disastrous peacekeeping mission in 1994. It killed up to 10 Al Qaeda allies, but missed its main target of three top suspects, the US government said. Washington denies carrying out any further strikes. Its ally Ethiopia, the region's major power, wants to withdraw its soldiers in the coming weeks.
AU willing to send troops in principle
Diplomats fear the withdrawal would leave the government - a 14th attempt at central rule since 1991 - vulnerable to remnant Islamists vowing guerrilla war, warlords seeking to re-create their fiefdoms, and competing clans.
"Deploying an African stabilisation force into Somalia quickly is vitally important to support efforts to achieve stability," said Michael Ranneberger, the US ambassador for Kenya and Somalia. The African Union said it is willing in principle to send troops. Uganda is ready to provide the first battalion, but is nervous of the risks for its soldiers.
The fledgling government's security forces shot at a minibus that passed by an area of Mogadishu which had been closed to traffic after attacks against troops stationed there, witnesses said. Three people were injured, they said. - Reuters
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