[Onthebarricades] SOMALIA: Ethiopian troops shoot protesters

[Andy]

http://tinyurl.com/2mh7h8
Three dead as Ethiopian troops open fire on protesters in Mogadishu
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Monday, October 29, 2007

MOGADISHU: Ethiopian forces opened fire on demonstrators protesting 
against their presence in Mogadishu on Sunday, killing at least three, 
witnesses said, as fresh violence engulfed the Somali capital. A crowd 
of hundreds of protesters chanting "Allahu akhbar" (God is great) and 
wielding sticks had been marching in the streets of southern Mogadishu 
in reaction to the latest Ethiopian crackdown on the insurgency when the 
deaths occurred.

"A young boy and two other civilians died when Ethiopian forces in 
Suqaholaha area opened fire on us. We were demonstrating against them 
and they opened fire to disperse the crowd," witness Hussein Adan Suley 
told AFP.

"We ran away when the Ethiopians opened fire. I know that one child was 
killed," said another protester, Asma Wardhere. There was no immediate 
confirmation of the casualty toll from medical sources following the 
protest, the first to be staged by disgruntled Mogadishu residents in 
several months.

But a police official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed that 
three people had died during the demonstration, and added that two other 
people had been killed Sunday in separate incidents.

One man was shot dead in the volatile Bakara market area. Relatives said 
the motives of the killing were not known.

Police also said that one of their members was killed but declined to 
reveal the location and circumstances of the incident.

For the second day running, violence pitting Ethiopian and Somali forces 
against Islamist insurgents rocked the city in broad daylight. On 
Saturday, Ethiopian troops fanned out into the streets following 
fighting near the stadium that left at least six civilians dead.

The latest clashes prompted a fresh wave of displacement, as civilians 
could be seen across entire neighborhoods loading pick-up trucks and 
donkey carts with household items.

"No one can endure what is happening in Mogadishu, it's non-stop 
violence and it's taking hundreds of lives every week," said southern 
Mogadishu resident Abdurahman Nure, speaking to AFP from the back of a 
Land Cruiser as he left the city with his children.

The Ethiopian Army came to the rescue of Somalia's embattled government 
last year to defeat fundamentalist Islamist militia that briefly 
controlled large parts of the country.

Since the Islamist movement was ousted earlier this year, its militia 
and allied tribal fighters have waged a guerrilla-style war, carrying 
out hit-and-run attacks, mainly by night and in Mogadishu. "The 
insurgents are attacking the government and Ethiopian forces almost 
everyday now," said Fartun Adan Mohammad, a single mother, as she left 
the city with her three children.

"Whenever this happens, we civilians are the target for the Ethiopian 
Army as well as the Somali forces, so fleeing is the only option we 
have," she said.

Residents are saying that daytime fighting is making the city even more 
dangerous for civilians than it was before.

Mogadishu residents have been fleeing the city in several major waves in 
recent months, arriving in droves in neighboring towns already plagued 
by dire food shortages.

While the capital was engulfed in violence, the country's transitional 
government was also on the brink of disintegration.

In the town of Baidoa, about 250 kilometers from Mogadishu, President 
Abdullahi Ahmad Yusuf was pushing Parliament to oust Prime Minister Ali 
Mohammad Gedi.

The two leaders are from the country's two main and rival tribes and the 
president accuses his premier of failing to bring an end to the insurgency.

Saudi King Abdullah has invited top leaders in a bid to reconcile them 
and press on with rebuilding state institutions.

Somalia has lacked a functional government since the 1991 ouster of 
dictator Mohammad Siad Barre which set off a deadly power struggle that 
has defied at least a dozen peace initiatives.

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Mogadishu hit by fresh fighting

Fighting between Ethiopian and Somali government troops and Islamist 
forces has continued in the Somali capital Mogadishu for a second day.

Gunfire echoed through the streets and angry residents demonstrated in 
protest at the presence of Ethiopian troops in their battle-damaged city.

Three people were reported to have been shot dead when Ethiopian troops 
opened fire during one demonstration.

The unrest came a day after 10 people were reported killed in gun battles.

Somalia has seen a surge in violence since Ethiopian-backed government 
troops ousted Islamists last December.

Residents angry

The AFP news agency reported that a young boy and two other people died 
when troops opened fire at a demonstration.

The firing began after crowds threw stones and set tyres ablaze.

"They have started firing again and I have no way to move my family," 
said Sahra Osman, a widow with five children, quoted by Reuters as 
clashes erupted earlier on Sunday.

The BBC's Africa editor Martin Plaut says the latest clashes began after 
Ethiopia moved reinforcements and a convoy of 20 tanks and armoured cars 
into the city late on Friday.

One of the vehicles was hit by a landmine and exploded.

On Saturday, Ethiopian troops moved out of their barracks and started 
fanning out across the city.

Government units control the east of the city, but the Council of 
Islamic Court, which was ousted in December's fighting, continues to 
hold some western parts of the city, from where it launches guerrilla 
attacks.

The latest fighting has forced schools and business to close.

Some 1,600 Ugandan troops are also in Mogadishu as part of a planned 
8,000-strong African Union force to support the interim government.

Somalia has been without an effective government since civil war began 
in 1991.

The UN says some 400,000 people have fled the violence in Mogadishu in 
the past four months.

*****

http://tinyurl.com/2nobfu
Heavy Fighting Shakes Somali Capital
Published 10/27/2007 - 3:16 p.m.
(AP) By SALAD DUHUL
Associated Press Writer

Insurgents and government-allied forces battled with machine guns, 
mortars and rocket-propelled grenades Saturday in the heaviest fighting 
to hit Somalia's capital for months, leaving at least seven people dead 
and dozens others wounded, witnesses and health officials said.

Islamic fighters briefly occupied a police station in south Mogadishu, 
before heading back out of the area, chanting 'God is great,' witnesses 
said. Witnesses said at least seven people including a woman had died in 
the heavy fighting between insurgents, government troops and 
government-allied Ethiopian forces.

At least 35 people wounded in the fighting were being treated at 
Mogadishu's Medina Hospital, said Tahir Mohammed Mahmoud, an 
administrative assistant. He said it was the worst fighting, and 
heaviest day for hospital admissions, for at least four months in the 
war-scarred city.

Another witness to the fighting, Hassan Hussein, said he saw two dead 
Ethiopian troops. Ethiopian officials were not immediately available for 
confirmation.

On the political front, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi was in the 
Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, for consultations.

He has been locked in a power struggle for months with President 
Abdullahi Yusuf, who wants to push through a no-confidence vote this 
week and form a new government -- presumably without Gedi. On Friday, 
Gedi told local media that he was not planning to resign, contrary to 
widespread speculation.

Twenty-two ministers and deputy ministers have threatened to resign 
unless the no-confidence vote is held, exposing deep rifts in the 
administration largely along politicians clan lines.

Analysts say the Ethiopian government primarily wants stability in 
Somalia so it can withdraw its troops, who still patrol Mogadishu and 
other parts of the country.

It is unclear which of the two leaders it backs.

Mogadishu has been plagued by fighting since government troops and their 
Ethiopian allies chased out the Council of Islamic Courts in December. 
For six months, the Islamic group controlled much of southern Somalia, 
and remnants have vowed to fight an Iraq-style insurgency. Thousands of 
civilians have been killed in the fighting this year.

Some 1.5 million Somalis are now in need of food and protection -- 50 
percent more that at the start of the year -- due to inadequate rains, 
continuing internal displacement and a potential cholera epidemic, the 
U.N. says.

_____

Associated Press Writer Mohammed Sheikh Nor contributed to this report.

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