Elders press a Mogadishu truce
2006-06-02 15:04
Mogadishu - Somali elders pressed for a truce between Islamic militia and a United States-backed warlord alliance on Friday, after months of deadly violence in the capital.
With tension high in Mogadishu and its northern outskirts after yet another day of clashes on Friday, elders scurried to secure an elusive ceasefire while Muslims in the city called for massive anti-US protests amid fears of fresh fighting.
Mediator Ali Hassan said: "We are contacting both sides involved in the conflict and they say they want peace, but to the contrary, commanders are preparing themselves for war.
"They have stationed more fighters at checkpoints and several neighbourhoods in the capital.
"If this dangerous trend continues, Mogadishu will be very bad and the situation will get out of control."
Witnesses said the factions had deployed hundreds of reinforcements and scores of machine gun-mounted pick-ups in volatile areas in and around northern and southern Mogadishu, where the most intense violence has been centred.
Children are recruited, say witnesses
Residents of the contested Sisi, Sukahola and Daynile neighbourhoods, all of which remain largely deserted, said the two sides were recruiting hundreds of freelance fighters, including children.
Although much of Mogadishu appeared calm on Friday, residents said there were fears that Muslim calls for mass anti-alliance and anti-US demonstrations after Friday's prayers could spark fresh clashers.
Sukahola, in the northeast, was the scene of the last serious battle in the capital proper. At least 13 were killed when the Islamists took a key alliance position on Wednesday.
Sides trade blame for violence
On Thursday, the fighting moved to the towns of Balad and El Arfid on the city's northern outskirts, where at least three people were killed when the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) attacked.
The deaths brought the death toll from clashes - that began in February - to 316 with more than 1 500 wounded, many of them civilians.
On Friday the two sides traded blame for the violence.
The ARPCT was set up with US support in February, in an attempt to curb the growing influence of Mogadishu's 11 Islamic courts and track down extremists and foreign fighters, including al-Qaeda members, the courts are allegedly harbouring.
The courts have declared a holy war against the alliance. They deny the accusations and claim the warlords are fighting for the enemy of Islam.