Residents of Somalia's capital use lull in fighting to bury

Residents of Somalia's capital use lull in fighting to bury dead

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/04/04/africa/AF-GEN-Somalia.php

MOGADISHU, Somalia: Residents used a lull in fighting Wednesday to clear the Somali capital's streets of corpses after the worst fighting in 15 years killed hundreds of people and sent tens of thousands fleeing the city to seek safety.

The violence broke out last week when Somali government forces and their Ethiopian backers began an offensive against Islamic insurgents. But civilians bore the brunt of the violence, and rotting bodies litter the tiny, dusty alleyways and back streets where much of the fighting took place over four days.

A team of clan members and Ethiopian officials were clearing bodies from the streets Wednesday, according to a member of Mogadishu's dominant and highly influential clan, the Hawiye.

"They are visiting the war zone to see if dead bodies need to be buried," Hussein Farah Siyad said.

The International Contact Group on Somalia, meeting in Cairo, condemned the fighting Wednesday and demanded that "all parties in Somalia comply with international humanitarian law, guarantee the safety and security for all humanitarian and relief work in Somalia, and ensure the protection of the Somali population."

The contact group is comprised of U.S., European, Arab and African diplomats.

Aid agencies say nearly 400 people were killed and some 565 people wounded when Ethiopian troops used tanks and attack helicopters to crush insurgents. The insurgents are linked to an Islamic movement that had ruled Mogadishu for six months until being driven out in December.

Somalis poured out of the ruined coastal city on foot, donkey carts, cars and trucks, joining the exodus of 47,000 people — mainly women and children — who have sought safety in the last 10 days, according to the U.N. refugee agency.

Since February, almost 100,000 people have fled the violence. Behind them, Somalia's transitional government warned of new attacks to crush the insurgents.

Kenya has doubled the number of troops patrolling the 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) border with Somalia to prevent a new influx of refugees, said Antony Kibuchi, the Kenyan police chief in the border province. The Kenyan army is also patrolling in light tanks, he said.

At least 1,300 people who fled Mogadishu arrived at Dobley, a Somali town seven kilometers (four miles) from the Kenyan border. Camps there are dealing with overcrowding, illness and lack of water, aid agencies say.

Somalia's insurgents are linked to the Council of Islamic Courts, which was driven from power in December by Somali and Ethiopian soldiers, accompanied by U.S. special forces. The U.S. has accused the courts of having ties to al-Qaida.

The militants have long rejected any secular government and have sworn to fight until Somalia becomes an Islamic emirate.

The country has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned against each other. A national government was established in 2004, but has failed to assert any real control.


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"The conversion of the entire population to Islam and the extinction of every form of dissent is the ideal of the Muslim State - This is Islamic Peace"

A moderate Moslem is one who sends others blow themselves up.