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| Africa Horn |
| Somali presidential palace attacked |
| 2009-01-15 |
| Somali insurgents fired mortar bombs at Somalia's presidential palace on Wednesday, underlining fears of more bloodshed a day after Ethiopian troops supporting the government quit bases in Mogadishu. Witnesses said security forces guarding the hill-top palace compound in the capital responded with their own volley of artillery shells, but there was no immediate word on casualties. "No Somali wants the Ethiopians to stay, but there will be chaos whether they withdraw or not," said a spokesman of Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca, a government-allied group. He said hardliners like al Shabaab - planned to fight the government and moderate groups like his if they tried to form a power-sharing administration. Sheikh Hassan Yacqub, an al Shabaab spokesman in Kismayu, a strategic southern port seized by the group in August, said he doubted Ethiopia would withdraw completely from its neighbour. "If they do pull out it will be due to attacks (against them), not requests nor negotiations. We shall continue fighting them until there is no single Ethiopian in Somalia," he told Reuters. Speaking in Cairo after talks with Arab League officials, moderate Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said the Eritrea-based opposition group was expected to join talks soon. "A breakthrough on those issues was achieved. There is a promise that they (the Asmara faction) will be included in the peace process," he was quoted telling Somali Radio HornAfrik. Fighting has killed more than 16,000 civilians since the start of 2007. One million people have been forced from their homes, triggering a humanitarian disaster that has been worsened by drought and hyper-inflation. On Tuesday, Ethiopian troops abandoned their main bases in Mogadishu. But many civilians are too scared to return to homes that were rocked by near-daily artillery and gun battles. |
| Posted by:Fred |