No Ethiopian pullout in sight as insurgency gains strength

Nov 22, 2008 - 3:35:11 PM

MOGADISHU, Somalia (Garowe Online) -

Heavy fighting rocked Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Saturday as Islamist insurgents battled allied Ethiopian and Somali government forces, marking one of the most violent days over the course of an ongoing two-year insurgency.

The Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and its splinter factions have claimed responsibility for two consecutive days of guerrilla attacks that killed at least 30 people and wounded scores, including women and children.

Ethiopian armyThe violence raged across several districts, including Yaaqshiid, Wardhigley and Huriwa, with insurgents targeting four Ethiopian army bases in different areas of Mogadishu.
Residents said Ethiopian troops deployed in new neighborhoods Friday morning, triggering an explosion of violence that erupted again today.

ICU spokesman Abdirahim Isse Addow claimed that killed 15 soldiers, "including many Ethiopians," were killed. On the Islamist side, three fighters were "martyred," he added.
Col. Dahir Mohamed Hersi, the Somali army's spokesman, told reporters that government forces gunned down 31 insurgents and wounded many others. "Two of our soldiers also died," he said.
There were no independent reports to verify either claim.

But elders, witnesses and hospital contacts have all confirmed to Garowe Online a high number of civilian casualties since Friday's fighting.

The Ethiopian army shelled neighborhoods for the first time in recent weeks, after the insurgents staged coordinated attacks on army bases, including Stadium Mogadishu.

An explosion in Yaaqshiid district killed a group of children, who were reportedly playing outside, according to residents. But no one knew the source of the violent blast.

A peace pact signed between the Ethiopian-backed interim government in Mogadishu and a faction of the opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) called for Ethiopian troops to begin withdrawing on November 21, preceded by a ceasefire effective November 5.
But there has been no ceasefire or any signs of Ethiopian withdrawal yet.

Analysts say Islamist hardliners, like al Shabaab, are increasingly flexing their military muscle in a show-of-force intended to discredit Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the ARS chairman who inked the peace deal.

Al Shabaab is one of the ICU factions that rejected the 2007 formation of the ARS in Eritrea, Ethiopia's regional foe. The guerrilla group now controls several regions, including the key port towns of Kismayo and Marka.

Reports from the situation on the ground indicate a very fluid political landscape, with no clear distinction between the hardliners and the pro-peace ICU factions.