Burials planned in Mogadishu
04/04/2007 13:11  - (SA)  

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Talks to end Somalia fighting Somalis bury dead during lull 381 killed in Somali fighting

Mogadishu - Mogadishu residents planned burials on Wednesday for dozens of bodies left abandoned in streets, buildings and morgues after some of the heaviest fighting in the Somali capital for 15 years.

Although the city remained tense, locals felt emboldened to venture back onto the streets by an extended lull in the violence that broke out last Thursday with an Ethiopian offensive on Islamist rebels backed by clan militia.

A local rights group, which compiled figures from hospitals and witnesses, said 381 civilians had died and 565 were wounded in the four days of clashes that followed.

"We are planning to go to the streets to bury the dead," said Hussein Aden Korgab, an elder from Mogadishu's dominant Hawiye clan, on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Hawiye elders said they had agreed with Ethiopian commanders to halt hostilities to allow for the bodies of the dead to be collected.

Ethiopian commanders have yet to confirm any truce.

Health hazard warning

"We are looking for ways to get to the volatile areas, where the bodies are littered," said Korgab.

Fighting blocked the dead from being buried within 24 hours in accordance with Muslim rites, while medics warned of looming health hazards if the bodies were left out in the open.

"We advise the people to bury the dead bodies in their neighbourhoods if they can," said Abdullahi Sheikh, an official from the capital's doctors association.

An AFP correspondent said residents had returned to the streets in non-volatile areas of Mogadishu, a day after Somali officials told people to leave some southern districts, where Ethiopian and Somali troops are still facing off with insurgents.

A US-backed global panel on Somalia on Tuesday called for a ceasefire between all parties and the withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops.

'More peacekeepers'

The International Contact Group on Somalia, which met in Cairo, also called for the deployment of more African Union peacekeepers to join a mission of 1 500 Ugandans currently deployed in Mogadishu.

Ethiopian-Somali forces drove Islamist fighters with alleged links to the al-Qaeda network out of south and central Somalia about three months ago.

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