KISMAYO – Islamist fighters opened fire in the Somali port city of Kismayo yesterday towards residents burning tyres, throwing stones and chanting to protest against the Islamist takeover of their city hours before.
Two people were injured, some witnesses said, amid sketchy reports from Somalia’s third largest city. Riding on trucks mounted with machine guns, the Mogadishu-based Islamists poured into Kismayo overnight to extend their grip on south-central Somalia and effectively flank the powerless central government on three sides.Other than the semi-autonomous northern enclave of Puntland and the self-declared independent enclave of Somaliland, the Islamists now control all Somalia’s key ports.The government, based in the provincial town of Baidoa and with little military strength of its own, denounced the Kismayo takeover as a breach of an agreement both sides reached during peace talks in Sudan to halt further military expansion.Residents of Kismayo, which lies near the Kenyan border, said some arriving Islamist fighters stirred up an already tense atmosphere by burning the Somali flag and raising an Islamic one.That set off massive protests, after the town had previously been peaceful since the Islamists entered, they said.”I witnessed the Somali flag being ripped apart and burned.This is unacceptable.It will cause a big problem,” said Mahad Abdullahi, a resident of Kismayo.A Reuters witness saw thousands of men and women pouring on to the streets, shouting “We don’t want the Islamic Courts” and tossing stones at trucks used by Islamist fighters.Roads were blocked with stones and burning tyres, she added.Nampa-ReutersRiding on trucks mounted with machine guns, the Mogadishu-based Islamists poured into Kismayo overnight to extend their grip on south-central Somalia and effectively flank the powerless central government on three sides.Other than the semi-autonomous northern enclave of Puntland and the self-declared independent enclave of Somaliland, the Islamists now control all Somalia’s key ports.The government, based in the provincial town of Baidoa and with little military strength of its own, denounced the Kismayo takeover as a breach of an agreement both sides reached during peace talks in Sudan to halt further military expansion.Residents of Kismayo, which lies near the Kenyan border, said some arriving Islamist fighters stirred up an already tense atmosphere by burning the Somali flag and raising an Islamic one.That set off massive protests, after the town had previously been peaceful since the Islamists entered, they said.”I witnessed the Somali flag being ripped apart and burned.This is unacceptable.It will cause a big problem,” said Mahad Abdullahi, a resident of Kismayo.A Reuters witness saw thousands of men and women pouring on to the streets, shouting “We don’t want the Islamic Courts” and tossing stones at trucks used by Islamist fighters.Roads were blocked with stones and burning tyres, she added.Nampa-Reuters
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