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by Mustafa Haji Abdinur
20 January 2007
MOGADISHU (AFP) - An Ethiopian military convoy has been ambushed in a new round of deadly violence in Mogadishu, hours after the African Union agreed to send peacekeepers to war-torn Somalia.
At least one person was killed in the ambush Saturday, which triggered a major gunbattle in the volatile south of the capital.
Coming in the wake of a brazen attack late Friday on the residence of the interim president, the stabilisation force should be under no illusions about the scale of the task that awaits it in Mogadishu.
The interim administration and peacekeepers not only face having to turn round Somalia's reputation for lawlessness but cope with resentment against the presence of the Ethiopian army which led the drive to oust hardline Islamists from Mogadishu late last month.
The now-vanquished Islamists, who had managed to restore a semblance of order during a six-month stint in Mogadishu, have in turn threatened a campaign of guerilla warfare against the interim government and their Ethiopian allies.
Witnesses said the gunmen who launched Saturday's attack on a convoy of tanks and armoured vehicles had managed to melt away.
"When the Ethiopian tanks were attacked, they were forced to open fire in defence. There was fighting but the gunmen fled," said Mohamed Sheikh Dahil.
Muhidin Roble, another resident of the southern Suqaholaha neighbourhood, said he had seen the body of one male civilian.
"I saw one person killed while he was standing by the roadside and four others were wounded. Three of them are women," he said.
The identity of the attackers behind the assault on Villa Somalia, the residence of interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, also remained a mystery after they made good their escape.
While witnesses said the residence, also in southern Mogadishu, had come under attack from mortar shells, a government spokesman said a volley of anti-aircraft missiles had been used.
Abdirahman Dinari said the attack appeared to be the work of youths although no-one had yet been apprehended.
"Neither government forces nor our Ethiopian friends suffered any casualties in the attack which was carried out by simple gunmen to show the international community that Mogadishu is still very unsafe," said Dinari.
"We are asking elders to restrain such young boys from carrying out against government positions."
Somalia has been without an effective central authority since 1991 when the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre triggered an incessant round of fighting between rival warlords. Despite a disarmament agreement between the warlords and Yusuf's government last week, the country remains awash with weaponry.
Yusuf only moved to Mogadishu 12 days ago as the head of a still weak administration which had been forced to base itself in the provincial backwater of Baidoa while the warlords and then the Islamists controlled the capital.
The UN however believes recent events offer Somalia its best chance of peace in years and the sense of optimism was bolstered when the African Union finally agreed late Friday to deploy a force of 7,600 peacekeepers.
The role of AMISOM (African Mission to Somalia) would be to "facilitate humanitarian operations in Somalia and consolidate peace and stability in Somalia," the AU said.
An initial deployment of more than 2,500 troops would be dispatched immediately, mandated for an initial six-month period.
The force should later assume a United Nations mandate which would work towards long-term reconstruction in the country.
Only Uganda has thus far publicly offered troops, although Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin, recently returned from a tour to lobby support for the mission, said Nigeria, Libya and Algeria were also ready to provide troops or other assistance.
Source: AFP