From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Mon May 11 2009 - 11:48:09 EDT
Somali president says rebels work for foreign govts 1
11 May 2009 14:41:36 GMT
* Ahmed urges insurgents to stop fighting
* Police and military units clash in Mogadishu
By Abdi Sheikh
MOGADISHU, May 11 (Reuters) - Somalia's president accused Islamist
insurgents on Monday of working for foreign governments trying to
destabilise his Horn of Africa nation after four days of fighting killed
at least 70 people.
The country's power vacuum after 18 years without central rule has long
worried players in the region and beyond.
Some of them are concerned about local rebels and terrorist networks,
while others jockey for regional domination and some are exploiting the
economic opportunities of a failed state.
"We have an Islamic government, but misled Somalis kill innocent people.
These guys work for foreign countries that do not want us to be a
peaceful nation," President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed told reporters in
Mogadishu.
"I tell them to stop fighting. It is illegal to shed the blood of your
innocent brothers."
Ahmed -- himself a former Islamist rebel -- did not name any countries,
but U.N. reports have accused Eritrea, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and
other Gulf Arab states of violating an arms embargo on the country.
Somalia's battered capital endured some of the heaviest fighting for
months over the weekend as hardline al Shabaab Islamist rebels battled
pro-government Islamist militia.
On Monday, sporadic explosions and gunfire rocked some northern
districts of the city, and six soldiers died when police fought with
troops trying to help some of the insurgents.
"We captured several sacks of weapons that some military men were
secretly transporting to the opposition," one policeman, who asked not
to be named, told Reuters.
"They attacked us and we chased them ... six of their dead bodies lie
here. These government soldiers had not been paid, so they sell their
government weapons to the opposition groups."
"GIVE THE GOVT A HAND"
The United States says Shabaab has close ties to al Qaeda and that some
of its leaders trained in Afghanistan.
One Somali elder said many Arabs took part in the weekend's clashes, but
no independent confirmation was available.
Ahmed's administration is the latest attempt to restore central rule
since 1991 when strongman Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled by warlords,
who then turned on each other.
Since then, various factions have tried to seize power in one of the
world's most dangerous nations, hobbling more than a dozen attempts to
reconstitute the government.
Many diplomats see Ahmed, who once headed the Eritrea-based Alliance for
the Re-Liberation of Somalia, an opposition group, as the best hope in
years to restore stability.
Speaking at his white-washed hilltop presidential palace, Ahmed called
for help: "We urge Somalis to give us a hand in sustaining the existence
of our government."
Ahmed led the Islamic Courts Union in 2006 which controlled Mogadishu
and much of the south and brought a level of relative security that the
country had not seen in years.
But Ethiopian troops and tanks crushed that movement in December 2006.
An insurgency has raged since, killing more than 16,000 people and
forcing a million more from their homes. (Additional reporting by Abdi
Guled and Reuters TV; Writing by Jack Kimball; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LB035132.htm
<http://english.cri.cn/mmsource/images/2009/01/31/4093somalia.jpg>
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