DPA
Monday, December 31, 2007
Violence flared in south and north Mogadishu between Ethiopian-backed government troops and militias, one year since Addis Ababa sent fighter jets and tanks to oust a popular Islamist group that controlled the Somali capital, setting off a brutal insurgency.
"I was at the market and when I came back I saw this catastrophe. All my family was killed, their bodies strewn on the floor after a shell landed in our house. I was shocked," said Maddey Sufi Abdi, who lost his pregnant wife and five children in the blast.
Insurgents attacked the African Union (AU) base in the bullet-scarred capital, firing machine guns strapped atop pick-up trucks on the 1 600 Ugandan troops recently joined by an advanced Burundian contingent of 100, but no casualties were reported.
"They attacked our base but our soldiers were very organized and we now completely control the area," said Paddy Ankunda, the AU mission's spokesperson.
Meanwhile, a mortar shell landed in the central Bakara market on Monday, wounding two police officers.
For the last year, violence has convulsed Mogadishu, sending 600 000 people fleeing and killing at least 1 000 in what the United Nations has called Africa's worst humanitarian crisis.
Ethiopian troops are so bogged down in the conflict they have been unable to withdraw.
Somalia was plunged into anarchy in 1991 after warlords ousted dictator Mohammed Siad Barre and carved the land into fiefdoms.
Source: dpa, Dec 31, 2007