Gunmen attack Somali port

MOGADISHU – Unknown gunmen fired several rocket-propelled grenades at the main port in Somalia’s capital, which has seen spiralling violence since government forces and their Ethiopian backers took it over from an ousted Islamic movement.

No casualties were reported from the attack on the port. Hours before the explosions there, an African Union military delegation arrived in the southern town of Baidoa, 250km northwest of the capital, Mogadishu, to assess security ahead of a planned peacekeeping deployment.”The attack caused no damage because they (the gunmen) hit the sea and an open ground,” said Abdirahman Mohamed, Mogadishu port’s security chief.Madina Hassan, who lives 30m from the port, said the attack frightened her six children.”My children shouted and began to run in confusion.Some of them asked me to take them away from the house,” Hassan said.The two-year-old transitional government only managed to establish itself in the capital in December.The ousted Islamic movement, which still has strong support in Mogadishu, has vowed to wage an Iraqi-style insurgency, and clan rivalries also are a challenge for the government.Ethiopia has said it cannot afford to keep its forces long in Somalia and has begun pulling out as the African Union presses ahead with preparations for a peacekeeping mission to Somalia.So far, the AU has received only half the 8 000 peacekeepers it believes is needed, but could start an initial deployment soon.Three battalions of peacekeepers from Uganda and Nigeria are ready to be deployed in Somalia and will be airlifted in as soon as possible, a senior African Union official said last week.On Saturday, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, a top leader of the Islamic movement that was ousted last month, said that a proposed peacekeeping force would “not bring peace in Somalia”.Sheik Ahmed, who spoke in a rare interview since fleeing Somalia and being taken into Kenyan protective custody, said support for the Islamic movement was growing because of the worsening security situation in Mogadishu, a city of two million people.Nampa-APHours before the explosions there, an African Union military delegation arrived in the southern town of Baidoa, 250km northwest of the capital, Mogadishu, to assess security ahead of a planned peacekeeping deployment.”The attack caused no damage because they (the gunmen) hit the sea and an open ground,” said Abdirahman Mohamed, Mogadishu port’s security chief.Madina Hassan, who lives 30m from the port, said the attack frightened her six children.”My children shouted and began to run in confusion.Some of them asked me to take them away from the house,” Hassan said.The two-year-old transitional government only managed to establish itself in the capital in December.The ousted Islamic movement, which still has strong support in Mogadishu, has vowed to wage an Iraqi-style insurgency, and clan rivalries also are a challenge for the government.Ethiopia has said it cannot afford to keep its forces long in Somalia and has begun pulling out as the African Union presses ahead with preparations for a peacekeeping mission to Somalia.So far, the AU has received only half the 8 000 peacekeepers it believes is needed, but could start an initial deployment soon.Three battalions of peacekeepers from Uganda and Nigeria are ready to be deployed in Somalia and will be airlifted in as soon as possible, a senior African Union official said last week.On Saturday, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, a top leader of the Islamic movement that was ousted last month, said that a proposed peacekeeping force would “not bring peace in Somalia”.Sheik Ahmed, who spoke in a rare interview since fleeing Somalia and being taken into Kenyan protective custody, said support for the Islamic movement was growing because of the worsening security situation in Mogadishu, a city of two million people.Nampa-AP