Mogadishu - At least two people were killed Monday in clashes in the Somali
town of Baidoa, the latest violence in the war-torn nation sparked by
political power struggles, police said.
The United Nations, United States and European Union have all warned
political power struggles are putting at risk fragile gains in the Horn of
Africa nation.
Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets, burning tires and attacking
vehicles, in a bid to stop elections for the local president of the federal
South West state based in Baidoa, some 250km northwest of the capital.
"The demonstration turned violent after people started burning tires and
threw stones at vehicles, then they stopped a pick-up with gunmen who opened
fire," said local police officer Mohamed Adris.
A pick-up truck was later torched and hurled off a bridge, with two people
killed in the fighting, witness Osman Sheikh Mumin said.
African Union troops, deployed to fight alongside government troops against
al-Qaeda affiliated Shabaab militants, protected the centre where voting
took place.
Local officials said former national parliament speaker, Sharif Hassan
Sheikh Aden, was elected to the post.
Somalia has splintered in multiple local regions, with varying degrees of
autonomy and acceptance of the internationally-backed central government in
Mogadishu, where leaders propped up by billions in foreign aid are also
competing for power.
"The aim of the violent demonstration was only to disrupt the conference and
the election... AU soldiers stopped them from reaching the venue and the
situation is under control," said local elder Mohamed Isack.
The violence comes as national President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud left for
meetings with foreign donors in Copenhagen, and amid repeated calls for calm
by foreign donors.
In Mogadishu, tensions remain high, with the president and his prime
minister, Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed, at odds for months, with two failed
attempts by lawmakers to push a vote of no confidence in Ahmed.
UN envoy Nicholas Kay on Monday warned that the "ongoing political crisis in
Somalia is a serious risk to further progress."
The Somali government, which took power in August 2012, was the first to be
given global recognition since the collapse of Siad Barre's hardline regime
in 1991.
Political wrangles and reports of corruption have raised concern the
government, like the last administration, is blighted by infighting and
failing to unite in the face of the threat by the Shabaab.