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Mogadishu Battles Over

The Reporter (Addis Ababa)
NEWS
April 28, 2007
Posted to the web April 28, 2007

By Namrud Berhane and Asrat Seyoum
Addis Ababa
Somali officials are saying that over a hundred foreign fighters were captured
in what they believe was the last decisive battle between insurgents and
Ethiopian backed Transitional Federal Government troops (TFG).
"The fighting in Mogadishu is now all over. There may be a few individuals
hiding here and there but the war is finished. Yesterday [Thursday], the main
centers of terrorist control were captured; in the process over a hundred
foreign Jihadists surrendered," Somalia's Ambassador in Ethiopia, Abdikarim
Farah told journalists here.
Farah added that some of the extremist members of the Shabbab were fleeing from
the city.
He repeated the interim Somali Prime Minister's call that all residents that
had moved out of their residences could return back.
With the defeat of the insurgents, Farah added: "there need be no restrictions
on the [use of Mogadishu's ports and airports] to bring the aid and assistance
so desperately needed by those living without food, water and shelter in camps
around the country."
Somalia is facing a dire humanitarian crisis after the fighting leveled homes
and sent hundreds of thousands of civilians into squalid camps or seeking
shelter along roadsides.
The United Nations' top humanitarian official said Thursday that more people
have been displaced in Somalia than anywhere else in the world this year. And,
he said, international aid groups only have access to a fraction of them.
"The situation is indeed extremely worrying," said John Holmes, the U.N.
undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs. While U.N. agencies and other
relief groups are trying to provide aid, they can only reach about 60,000 of
the homeless at the moment because of fighting in and around the capital of
Mogadishu.
The offensive against the insurgency is seen by many as a ground laying process
for a re
conciliation conference that the interim government plans to hold.
Various government establishments and individuals with affiliation to the
government were targets of a series of attacks since the arrival of the TFG in
Mogadishu.
According to some officials the main resistance came from the Ayr sub clan
which is of the dominant Mogadishu clan of the Hawyie.
"There are some questions being raised by some sub clans in Mogadishu. These
groups are saying that they have not been properly represented in the TFG.
These sub clans are also raising questions related to property rights. The
leaders of the Shabbab radical group are also mostly from this same sub clan
called the Ayr," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said during a press conference on
Tuesday.
The Ayr, were mostly found in central Somalia and moved into Mogadishu only
when Siad Barre was ousted and the warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed moved his clan
into Mogadishu.
The Ayr then took possession of private and government property.
"The Ayr are now suspicious that when stability prevails in Mogadishu, the
property they own will be repossessed form them," Meles said.
He added that during his recent meeting with the interim president of Somalia,
they had come to an understanding that the proper way to move forward was to
address the property rights questions in a way that will guarantee peace.
With regard to the deployment of an African peace keeping mission, the interim
government's ambassador here, told journalists that Ethiopian troops will now
withdraw as soon as possible by leaving behind the necessary conditions for the
AMISOM force to take up its position.
"We will always remain grateful for their [the Ethiopians'] help. They will of
course, now leave soon, as they have promised, and they will leave behind the
necessary conditions for an African peace-keeping force to take up their role
in Mogadishu."
Uganda has been the only African country which has deployed its troops into
Somalia as promised.


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