From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Wed May 13 2009 - 07:49:46 EDT
Page last updated at 11:08 GMT, Wednesday, 13 May 2009 12:08 UK
Mogadishu hit by further mayhem
Mogadishu's recent pandemonium has sparked a civilian exodus
Heavy fighting has resumed in the Somali capital as some of the fiercest
clashes in months continue.
Pro-government forces in the city are exchanging fire with rebels from the
radical Islamist group al-Shabab. Thousands of civilians have fled.
It came a day after the guerrillas and pro-government forces fought a deadly
battle in central Somalia.
Meanwhile, the UN warned the Horn of Africa nation was facing its worst
drought for at least a decade.
At least two people have died in Wednesday's fighting near the presidential
palace in the Wardigley district and the Bondere and Karan areas in the
north of the city.
Five people were killed a day earlier during clashes in the village of
Mahas, about 300km (180 miles) north-east of the capital.
It is estimated more than 120 lives have been lost since the latest round of
bloodletting erupted on Thursday.
We're now facing a drought in Somalia that is worse than people have seen
for at least a decade
UN's Mark Bowden
Somalia's fragile Western-backed interim government has been fighting
radical Islamist groups like al-Shabab since 2006.
A moderate Islamist president took office in January but even his
introduction of Sharia law to the strongly Muslim country has not appeased
the guerrillas who battle pro-government and African Union forces in the
capital almost daily.
Meanwhile, the UN warned that drought had left nearly half the Somali
population malnourished and some 3.2 million people in urgent need of food
aid.
"We're now facing a drought in Somalia that is worse than people have seen
for at least a decade," UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia, Mark
Bowden, told a news briefing in Geneva.
Somalia, a nation of about eight million people, has experienced almost
constant conflict since the collapse of its central government in January
1991.
It is estimated that more than 16,000 civilians have been killed by fighting
since the start of 2007 and more than one million are internal refugees.
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