Roaming gunmen sow terror

2003-04-23 08:07

Mogadishu - Freelance gunmen are making life in Somalia's capital of Mogadishu more frightening than ever, forcing businesses, dignitaries and foreign residents to hire more armed men for protection against extortion and kidnappings.

For years, the streets of Mogadishu have bristled with deadly hardware ranging from sidearms, through sub-machine guns to "technicals": modified anti-aircraft artillery or heavy machine guns mounted in the wells of pick-up trucks.

Foreign aid workers, visiting journalists and local dignitaries rarely move in the city without an escort of one or two technicals.

There is no government to speak of in Somalia since the ouster of President Mohammed Siad Bare in 1991.

Many consider the Transitional National Government (TNG), which controls pockets of the capital and little else, as just one of the many, mostly clan-based, armed groups vying for power and control across the country.

Wadnaha, one of Mogadishu's main roads, is a particularly dangerous spot, with at least four permanent roadblocks and occasional barriers, which threaten the lives of pedestrians and travellers in buses or trucks.

On Tuesday, unidentified gunmen abducted an Islamic Court judge in north Mogadishu's Sinai enclave.

"The hired armed abductors, who were driving a small Toyota car, snatched the judge from his house in north Mogadishu, but one of the gunmen later fell off a pickup truck and was captured by neighbours," said one witness, Ibrahim Ahmed Jumale.

"No one is safe from attacks by gunmen, whose daily lives are based on income generated by violence," said Asha Idris, who witnessed the killing of two people at Hawlwadag junction of the Wadnaha Avenue on Monday evening.

She said the killers shot at rival gunmen before turning and shooting dead the two men.

Unidentified gunmen also destroyed a fuel tanker in north Mogadishu this week.

The driver of the tanker refused to stop when ordered by the gunmen, who were demanding money, a witness said.

TNG police in Mogadishu are unable to cope with the growing violence as some of its instigators are affiliated to warlords who have refused to recognise the regime.

The TNG police force is also crippled by logistical problems.

"We are not allowed to operate in rival territories that are safe havens for gangs," police officer Abdi Osman said.

Shopkeepers in Mogadishu's largest market, Bakara, still maintain a private army for protection, rather than relying on the TNG police.

One group of gunmen has also brought rubbish collection to a halt in the capital by demanding that the private organisation that does the job pay it protection money.

"Kidnapping is a way of life here, so you better protect yourself and those of your loved ones. The ransom is high as most kidnappings are pre-planned," another Mogadishu resident, Idris Yasin Amano, said.

The easiest targets for kidnapping are foreigners, people who hail from unarmed minority clans and business people.

- AFX