96 die in 4 days of clashes
2006-05-10 21:58
Mogadishu - Businessmen, clan elders and moderate religious leaders shuttled between secular warlords and Islamic extremists in Somalia's capital on Wednesday, trying to broker a ceasefire as the death toll from four days of fighting reached 96.
The fighting has escalated steadily since Sunday, when the extremists, with alleged ties to al-Qaeda, and the warlords, linked to the United States, took up strategic positions in Mogadishu.
Most victims in the recent fighting have been civilians caught in the crossfire. Doctors said nearly 200 people had been wounded.
The battle between the Islamic Court Union and the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-terrorism has centred on the northern Mogadishu neighbourhood of Sii-Sii, with neither side gaining an advantage.
Civil leader Abdulahi Shir'wa said neutral groups were meeting with the militia leaders on Wednesday, to negotiate another ceasefire.
'The alliance is not satisfied'
Abdinura Siad, an alliance militia commander, met with clan elders on Monday afternoon: "The alliance is not satisfied with the mediating efforts, those who are mediating are biased.
"The Islamists should stop fighting, then we can stop. We are only defending ourselves."
For a second day, the Islamic Court Union's Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed said he was ready to observe a ceasefire.
But, gunfire still could be heard and mediators said they still were trying to broker an agreement.
Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi has called on all sides to stop fighting.
Although his government has United Nations backing, it has failed to assert itself outside of Baidoa, 240km from Mogadishu.
UN appeals for leaders to 'step back'
The United Nations secretary-general's special representative for Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, appealed for "leaders on both sides to step back from the brink" on Wednesday.
Fall said: "Whatever the allegiances, the intermittent conflict between heavily armed camps has resulted in indiscriminate loss of life and has created fear and chaos for those civilians trapped in the crossfire."
Somalia has had no effective central government since 1991, when warlords ousted long-time dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other.
Last week, Somalia's President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed said he believed the United States government was supporting the militia - which included ministers in the Somali interim cabinet - as a way of fighting several top al-Qaeda operatives protected by radical Somali clerics.
- AP