Mogadishu Under More Heavy Fighting

The fighting between both local insurgents and the Ethiopian forces in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, has been some of the heaviest fighting within the last few months. Six months ago, the insurgents resorted to guerilla tactics.

Ever since the Islamists were ousted by the Ethiopian forces December of 2006, the violence taking place in Mogadishu has spiked upwards significantly. In today’s fighting, at least ten people were killed by shelling and machine-gun fire due to an offensive led by the Ethiopian military forces. So far, the civilian death toll has been in the hundreds as a result of the fighting between government and rebel forces. Martin Plaut, the BBC Africa editor stated that the latest fighting started after the Ethiopian government moved reinforcements along with twenty tanks and armored cars into the city late Friday. One of the vehicles exploded after hitting a landmine that was placed on the road. Early Saturday, the fighting broke out as Ethiopian troops came out of their barracks. They targeted facilities throughout Mogadishu that are occupied by those loyal to the Union of Islamic Courts which was ousted by Ethiopia back in 2006. So far, the insurgents managed to capture and ransack one of the police stations. A resident stated that both groups were fighting in every alley throughout the city of Mogadishu. Most people admitted to one of the main hospitals were victims of gunshot and shrapnel wounds. To one of the elders, it is genocide on the part of the Ethiopian military. As a result, he has already appealed to the international community. Asides from the Ethiopian forces, Uganda’s military has sent almost two-thousand troops. This is all part of the African Union force to support Somalia’s current interim government. Since the civil war in 1991, the country has no effective government.