Fighting resumes in Mogadishu, peacekeeper killed: Red Cross

MOGADISHU – Mortar bombs crashed into central Mogadishu yesterday and Uganda said it had lost its first peacekeeper there as battles pitting Ethiopian and Somali troops against Islamist insurgents entered a fourth day.

Scores of civilians have died and hundreds have been wounded in what the International Committee of the Red Cross says is the seaside capital’s worst clashes for more than 15 years. Ethiopian tanks and helicopter gunships pounded rebel strongholds as Islamists and clan militia fired back with machineguns, missiles and rocket-propelled grenades.Ugandan peacekeepers sent last month at the head of an African Union (AU) force to help Somalia’s interim government restore stability have been caught in the crossfire, pinned down at strategic sites, including the air and sea ports.”Our troops were guarding the presidential compound on Saturday when it was struck by mortars.One of our soldiers was killed,” Ugandan military spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye told Reuters by telephone from Kampala.Five others were injured.Previous ambushes by insurgents that wounded two Ugandans had already made other African states wary of sending more men to boost the AU force to its planned strength of 8 000.Burundi, Malawi, Ghana and Nigeria have pledged to send troops.A fourth day of fighting broke out in Mogadishu on Sunday with a barrage of artillery shells striking neighbourhoods near the main soccer stadium – the site of some of the heaviest fighting since the Ethiopian offensive was launched on Thursday.Thousands of people have fled the city.”We are now being shelled heavily,” one resident, who asked not to be named, said on Sunday.”People are very scared.”Civilians were the main victims.Hospitals were overwhelmed, although most wounded were unable to seek help and doctors were trapped at home due to the ongoing battles.The fighting shattered a brief and shaky truce between the Ethiopians and leaders of the city’s dominant clan, the Hawiye.Security sources said the African Union (AU) was trying to arrange more talks between the two sides to reinstate that ceasefire, but were facing massive mutual mistrust.The Hawiye called on the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and the Arab League to urge Ethiopia to stop attacking.Nampa-ReutersEthiopian tanks and helicopter gunships pounded rebel strongholds as Islamists and clan militia fired back with machineguns, missiles and rocket-propelled grenades.Ugandan peacekeepers sent last month at the head of an African Union (AU) force to help Somalia’s interim government restore stability have been caught in the crossfire, pinned down at strategic sites, including the air and sea ports.”Our troops were guarding the presidential compound on Saturday when it was struck by mortars.One of our soldiers was killed,” Ugandan military spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye told Reuters by telephone from Kampala.Five others were injured.Previous ambushes by insurgents that wounded two Ugandans had already made other African states wary of sending more men to boost the AU force to its planned strength of 8 000.Burundi, Malawi, Ghana and Nigeria have pledged to send troops.A fourth day of fighting broke out in Mogadishu on Sunday with a barrage of artillery shells striking neighbourhoods near the main soccer stadium – the site of some of the heaviest fighting since the Ethiopian offensive was launched on Thursday.Thousands of people have fled the city.”We are now being shelled heavily,” one resident, who asked not to be named, said on Sunday.”People are very scared.”Civilians were the main victims.Hospitals were overwhelmed, although most wounded were unable to seek help and doctors were trapped at home due to the ongoing battles.The fighting shattered a brief and shaky truce between the Ethiopians and leaders of the city’s dominant clan, the Hawiye.Security sources said the African Union (AU) was trying to arrange more talks between the two sides to reinstate that ceasefire, but were facing massive mutual mistrust.The Hawiye called on the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and the Arab League to urge Ethiopia to stop attacking.Nampa-Reuters