US/EU/UN backed Ethiopian occupation rejected

[Somaliweyn]

Somalia: Radical Islamic group making comeback

Shelling and gunfire in Mogadishu leave at least 17 dead.




MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- A radical Islamic group that was driven from power a year ago by a Western-supported offensive is making a significant comeback in Somalia, and the government can do little to stop it, officials said Thursday, as shelling and gunbattles in the capital killed at least 17 people.



Sheik Qasim Ibrahim Nur, director of security at Somalia's National Security Ministry, said the government has no power to resist the Council of Islamic Courts, which the United States has accused of having ties to al-Qaida.



He said the fighters had regrouped and were poised to launch a massive attack, adding that the government has "no power to resist the Islamists."



Mortar rounds slammed into the biggest market in Mogadishu, killing 12 people and wounding more than 40 others. Five others were killed in a separate gunbattle in the city. The death toll was expected to rise from the latest bloodshed blamed on Islamic insurgents.


"I saw so many dead people lying on the road, I couldn't even look at them, I was so scared for my life," resident Salah Garweyne told The Associated Press.



At least 19 of those wounded by the shelling were in critical condition, said Dr. Hassan Osman Isse at Medina Hospital.



The Council of Islamic Courts has been waging an Iraq-style insurgency that has killed thousands of people this year.



"About 80 percent of Somalia is not safe and is not under control of the government," Nur told the AP. "Islamists are planning to launch a massive attack against the (government) and its allied troops."



Nur appealed for international support, saying Islamic fighters "are everywhere."



Presidential spokesman Hussein Mohamed Mohamud also said that the Muslim fighters were regrouping, and said they have "a lot of weapons and foreign fighters."



The Council of Islamic Courts was driven from power last year when Ethiopia intervened, with the tacit approval of the United States, backing the government with soldiers and fighter jets.



Ted Dagne, an Africa specialist at the Congressional Research Service, the Congress' research arm, said the Islamic leadership was never truly gone and merely went underground.



"The Somali and Ethiopian governments may have underestimated the level of organization and determination on the part of the Islamic courts," Dagne said in a telephone interview from Washington.



He added that many people look back on the group's six months in power and conclude the country then "was relatively peaceful and gave hope to the people of Somalia that after over a decade of violence, they can live in peace."



Source: AP, December 14, 2007

[Somaliweyn]

Somalia's top clan says Ethiopian pullout only end to deadlock

by Emmanuel Goujon


Ethiopian troops must leave Somalia for the country's ailing transitional institutions to garner any legitimacy and a political solution to emerge, leaders from Somalia's top clan said Thursday.

The presence in Somalia of the US-backed Ethiopian regime's troops will continue fueling violence that has already killed thousands and displaced close to a million in recent months, Hawiye elders said.

On Thursday alone, 13 civilians were killed in Mogadishu, including 11 when two mortar shells smashed into a market area.

"The problem of Somalia can only be solved by Somalis, we have to meet with the TFG (transitional federal government), the group of Asmara (opposition) and find a solution the Somali way," said Abdulaye Hassan, a Hawiye spokesman.

"That is possible only if the Ethiopians leave," he added.

The Hawiye clan is the largest in Somalia and is dominant in the capital Mogadishu, although some divisions exist amongst its numerous sub-clans.

Ethiopian troops, with the United States' blessing, came to the rescue of the transitional government's embattled forces in late 2006 after an Islamist militia took control of large parts of the country.

The Islamists, accused by Washington of ties to Al-Qaeda, were swiftly defeated but have since reverted to guerrilla tactics, carrying out daily attacks in Mogadishu.

Hassan condemned what he said were systematic arrests of Hawiye clan members who speak out against the TFG.

"We are sleeping in a different house every night because the TFG is after us," he said.

Sirraj Sheikh Hassan, another Hawiye representative, insisted his clan -- frequently accused of supporting radical Islamic insurgents -- was not seeking confrontation.

"We are not armed people but elders who are not happy with the Ethiopian presence. We are fighting them verbally," he told AFP in Mogadishu.

"The main conflict is now between the group of Asmara and the TFG. It can only be solved if the Ethiopians leave. There is no other solution than negotiation," he added.

The government and allied foreign mediators have so far not engaged in serious consultations with an opposition movement formed in Asmara in September.

The group, which calls itself the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, is led by key political figures from the country's short-lived Islamist rule and is hosted by Eritrea, which faces growing international isolation.

The Hawiye say they feel alienated from the country's centre of power. Although the new prime minister, Nur Hassan Hussein, is one of theirs, the nation's strongman remains more than ever President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.

Yusuf is from the Darod clan, the country's second-largest, and cracks have formed along clanic lines in the fragile government. Somalia is a mainly Muslim country, while Ethiopia has a majority Christian population. Many Somalis resent what they see as a Christian crusade on their territory, but the government needs Ethiopia to ensure it retains even a tenuous grip on power.

"The Ethiopians have been invited by the legitimate government of Somalia, that is the TFG, to restore peace, law and order in Somalia. So no other authority can ask them to leave," said Interior Minister Mohamed Mahmud Guled.

"The so-called Hawiye representatives don't represent the Hawiye people and they are not in a position to stop the fighting because the Shebab (the Islamist movement's armed wing) are not under their authority," he added.

Addis Ababa has said it wants to pull out as soon as possible but argues that this cannot be done before a robust international peacekeeping force is deployed.

In the meantime, violence continues to make Mogadishu one of the most dangerous capitals in the world and aggravate an already dire humanitarian situation.

"The insurgents are standing against the new colonisation of Somalia by Ethiopians. Once the Ethiopians pull out, there will be no more fighting," said Nur Jamah Karshe, another Hawiye elder.



Source: AFP, December 14, 2007

[Somaliweyn]

Mogadishu sliding back into anarchy


· Unicef warns of 'horrific' human rights abuses
· Wounded denied medical care as civilians flee city

Xan Rice, east Africa correspondent
Saturday December 8, 2007
The Guardian


Women and children injured by stray bullets and mortars during fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu are being turned back at military checkpoints as they try to reach hospitals, the United Nations children's agency said yesterday.
Describing the humanitarian situation in the city as the worst since 1991 - the last time Somalia had an effective government - Unicef's representative for the country said the restrictions meant "people are being left behind in the streets to die". The roadblocks are manned by government and Ethiopian troops, who are battling to contain a growing insurgency.


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"The lack of respect for basic humanitarian principles from all sides is horrific," said Christian Balslev-Olesen. "It's violence, harassment ... terror against the civilian population."
The conflict has already forced 600,000 people, more than half Mogadishu's population, to flee the city since February. More than a third of those fled in the past five weeks as fighting escalated.

Hopes of a ceasefire are dim. Somalia's transitional government has made little effort to reach out to political opponents or the guerrilla fighters, who in turn have vowed to fight until the Ethiopian occupation ends. The insurgency is broad-based, comprising remnants of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC), chased out of Mogadishu by Ethiopian forces last December, as well as militias controlled by warlords opposed to the government.

Ethiopia and the United States, which backed the move to oust the SCIC citing alleged links to al-Qaida, say a large international peacekeeping mission is the answer. But no countries appear willing to add to the 1,600 Ugandan peacekeepers confined to a small area of Mogadishu.

The abuses by government forces and the insurgents fit the pattern of impunity that has plagued Somalia for 16 years, and UN officials and diplomats admit they have little leverage over either party. Ethiopia, however, should be a different matter.

Speaking to the Guardian a few weeks ago, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Addis Abada denied its troops were guilty of abuses. "Our conduct of war is in line with international law," said Wahide Beleye, spokesman for the ministry. "We don't target civilians."

But UN officials insist that reports of indiscriminate shelling and heavy-handed house-to-house raids are credible.

"Ethiopia has a functioning government that should be accountable," said a senior UN official responsible for Somalia, who cannot be named for fear of compromising his agency's work. "We tried talking to Ethiopia, even at ambassador level, but we get nowhere. It seems that they, like the other parties, can get away with anything in this dirty war."

Besides the blocks on medical access, Unicef said that both government-allied militias and insurgents were recruiting children to fight. It also noted an unprecedented amount of sexual violence against women, particularly at checkpoints.

[Somaliweyn]

It is mindboggling how US/EU/UN fail to comprehend the simple logic that: Christian-Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia, looting private property, massacring civilians, raping women, displacing 1 million people leads to more support for the Islamic groups and resistance.

The Somali people were never so close to the Islamic groups as now, and the actions of the mercenary army of Washington and Brussels is only increasing this support.

Somali people want to be free to decide their own future, and system of governance.

[Somaliweyn]

The cowardly Ethiopians again resort to executing poor civilians. Today, they shot dead a mother and her baby while they were fleeing the city. A bus full of fleeing civilians was shot at, resulting in another mother death and many wounded. This combined with the indiscriminate shelling of Mogadishu civilians makes it more clear to US/EU/UN why the Somali people welcome the resistance with open arms.

And they wonder why the Islamist groups are doing so great in Somalia, winning both the population and territory?. It is because of the US/EU/UN sponsored Ethiopian occupation of Somalia! Not because the Somali people share the halfbaked ideology of these groups.

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Ciidamada Itoobiya oo Dad Rayid ah ku dilay, kuna dhaawacay Xaafado ka tirsan Degmada Yaaqshiid ee Gobolka Banaadir

Jimco, December 14, 2007(HOL): Ciidamo Itoobiyaan ah oo ku sugan qeybo ka mid ah Wadada Warshadaha, gaar ahaan inta u dhaxeysa Garoonka Kubadda Cagta Muqdisho Stadium iyo Warshaddii Baastada ayaa saaka waxay toogteen dad rayid ah, kuwaasi oo qaarkood ay geeriyoodeen, halka kuwo kalena ay dhaawacmeen.

Dad goob-joogayaal ah oo ku sugan Deegaanka Juungal ayaa HOL u sheegay in ay saaka Ciidamada Itoobiya toogteen Haweeney iyo Wiil yar oo ay dhashay, kuwaasi oo shalay ilaa xalay ku go’doonsanaa gurigooda oo ku yaala meel aan u dheereyn dhismayaashii Ceymiska.

Haweeneydan iyo Wiilka ay dhashay ee ay toogteen Ciidamada Itoobiyaanka ayaa waxay doonayeen in ay saaka ka baxaan gurigooda, hayeeshee markii ay guriga ka soo baxeen ayaa waxay ku soo dhaceen waddo ay Ciidamada Itoobiyaanka shiishka ku hayeen, taasi oo qofkii soo maraba ay tooganayeen.

Sidoo kalena, Gaari Bus ah oo ay saarnaayeen Dad rayid ah oo ka yimid dhinaca Suuqa Xoolaha ayaa isna waxaa ku dhaawacantay Haweeney gaariga qeybta hore ka saarneyd, kadib markii ay gaariga rasaas ku fureen Ciidamo Itoobiyaan ah oo ku sugan agagaarka Ceymiska.

http://www.hiiraan.com/news/2007/Dec/wa ... 4-2486.htm

[Somaliweyn]

Not only do the cowardly Ethiopians target civilians on the roads, but they even go inside their houses and shoot them dead while they are in their houses. UNBELIEVABLE, I've never thought we Somalis would witness such a humiliation whereby Xabasha soldiers shoot Somali mothers and kids in their houses, while Somali traitors justify these actions.

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Dad Rayid ah oo Ciidamada Ethiopianka maanta Muqdisho ku toogteen




Ilaa tobaneeyo ruux ayay maanta Ciidamada Ethiopia Toogasho ugu dileen Deegaano ka tirsan Magaalada Muqdisho, xilli Magaaladana ay Madaafiic la dhaceen aroornimadii saaka.



Meydadka dad gaaraya 10 ruux ayaa laga soo helay Xaafadaha Caymiska, Carafaat, Juungal iyo Nawaaxiga Wadada Warshadaha, kuwaasoo qaarkood ahaa dad shalay ku go'doomay dagaaladii ka dhacay Deeganadaas, oo Ciidamada Ethiopia Guryahooda ay gudaha ugu galeen, deetana ay toogteen.

Dadka qaar ee dhintay ayaa waxaa ku jiray nin oday ah iyo Haweeney iyo wiilkeeda, kuwaasoo isku dayay in ay ka soo gudbaan wado Liif u saarnaa Ciidamada Ethiopia, balse rasaasay ku soo fureen.

Waxaa kaloo jira dad kale oo Ciidamada Ethiopia ku rasaaseeyeen gaari ay saarnaayeen, kaasoo marayay agagaarka wadada Warshadaha, kaasoo isna uu ka dhashay dhimasho iyo dhaawac.

http://www.mareeg.com/news.php?sid=4124

[Somaliweyn]

Somalia: Ethiopians continue to kill civilians in Mogadishu
Fri. December 14, 2007 09:25 am.- By Mohamed Abdi Farah. - Send this news article

(SomaliNet) The Ethiopian forces in Somalia’s war torn city of Mogadishu on Friday have shot dead a mother and her son in Yaqshid neighborhood, north of the capital, witnesses said.

The mother and her son were killed by the Ethiopians as they wanted to leave their home day after they got trap in the yesterday’s gun battle between the Ethiopian soldiers and the insurgent groups.

“what I saw was that both of them were sniper shot by the Ethiopian soldiers in Jungal locality, the Ethiopians were in fact keeping an eye on any human movement in area and they seemed to kill any one who moves in the village,” said Mohamed Tifow, a local resident.

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Somali websites should write more in English for the outside world.

Anyways, good work of Somalinet Forums to have picked up the gruesome event and translated into English.