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Fresh fighting rocks Mogadishu
02/11/2007 12:58 - (SA)
Mogadishu - Battles broke out again in the Somali capital on Friday, killing at least one, wounding four and stoking the nation's humanitarian crisis after nearly 90 000 people fled days of fighting earlier this week.
Ethiopian forces supporting Somalia's interim government were trying to crush Islamist-led rebels. A witness said clashes resumed before dawn in the heart of the coastal capital.
One civilian was killed, while the four wounded were hit by stray bullets and shrapnel from artillery strikes, said residents and local media.
The battles had cut the ability of aid workers to respond effectively to what 39 charities said this week was an unfolding "humanitarian catastrophe" in the Horn of Africa nation.
88 000 residents displaced
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said three days of fighting that began last weekend had displaced 88 000 residents, adding to hundreds of thousands who fled violence earlier this year.
Witnesses said inhabitants were streaming out of the city on foot, carts, donkeys and vehicles. Most were heading for the town of Afgoye, west of Mogadishu, or stopping in makeshift shelters on the road between.
The UN-backed interim government was struggling to impose its authority on the country, and its forces in Mogadishu and their Ethiopian allies faced daily attacks from the insurgents.
With foreign correspondents largely staying out of Somalia due to the insecurity, and the international agenda dominated by other hotspots including Sudan's Darfur, humanitarian workers said the Somali crisis was not getting the attention it deserved.
When allied Ethiopian and Somali government troops launched two offensives against Islamist hideouts in Mogadishu earlier this year, hundreds of civilians died and 400 000 fled, according to the UN and aid group figures. Most had not returned.
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