Previous thread was closed, thought an update wouldn't hurt
Somali death toll rises to 212
By Salad Duhul, Associated Press Writer
Published: 23 April 2007
Insurgents and Ethiopian troops backing Somali government forces fought gunbattles in Mogadishu yesterday, while a human rights group said at least 47 people died - some from fighting the previous day - and 71 were wounded.
Sudan Ali Ahmed, the chairman of the Elman Human Rights Organization, said six insurgents and 41 civilians died. Some of the civilians died of their injuries after being wounded during the previous day's heavy fighting, he said.
Ahmed said the figures were based on what Mogadishu residents, hospitals and human rights activists reported to his group. They did not have any casualty figures for either Ethiopian or Somali government soldiers.
"The killing of civilians like this is a crime against humanity," Ahmed told The Associated Press by telephone. "We urge the international community to send a team to investigate these crimes. They are war crimes."
The new tallies bring the death toll in five days of fighting in Mogadishu to at least 212, with more than 291 wounded, according to the human rights group.
Meanwhile, a government official warned that it planned a major offensive against the insurgents soon and wanted residents of the capital to move from insurgent strongholds.
Sunday's fighting was less intense than the previous day's, which saw battles spread across the northern and southern districts of Mogadishu, with mortars and grenades used as well as gunfights.
The southern Mogadishu neighborhood of Tawfiq was the scene of most of yesterday's fighting and involved mainly gunbattles, though mortars were fired in the early morning.
Somali government forces captured Tawfiq Hotel, which was owned by a businessman sympathetic to the insurgents, said Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle.
"People in Mogadishu should vacate their homes which are located near the strongholds of terrorists and we will crack down on insurgents and terrorists very soon," Jelle told the AP.
In a separate development that could increase tension in the Horn of Africa, Eritrea suspended its membership of a regional body that mediated the Somali conflict.
The region is already tense because of the unresolved border dispute between Eritrea and Ethiopia that has seen the two countries go to war in the past. In recent months, the Somalia conflict has also been seen as a proxy war between the two, with each backing rival sides.
Eritrea suspended its membership of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development because of "a number of repeated and irresponsible resolutions" the organization has passed "that undermine regional peace and security," the Eritrean Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Saturday.
"As such, the Eritrean government deemed it fit not to be party to developments that hold one accountable both legally and morally," said the statement.
It did not make any direct reference to Somalia. But in recent years, the seven-nation Intergovernmental Authority on Development has spent most of its time trying to resolve conflicts such as Somalia, rather than focus on economic development for which it was set up.
US officials have named Eritrea as a supporter the months-old insurgency in Mogadishu, something Eritrea has denied.
Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy.
The transitional government was formed in 2004 with U.N. help, but has struggled to extend its control over the country.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...cle2474396.ece