NAIROBI, 21 December (IRIN) - The number of people fleeing the southern Somalia towns of Baidoa and Buur Hakaba swelled on Thursday as fighting between forces of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) entered a second day, sources told IRIN.
"Yesterday [Wednesday] we had people coming from the Daynuunay area [epicenter of the fighting]. Today, many Buur residents are leaving their homes," Mukhtar Atosh, a resident of Buur Hakaba, said.
A source in Baidoa said that "people were leaving before, but the numbers were not that big. Today [Thursday] and yesterday [Wednesday] we are seeing more people leaving, including business people."
A civil society source told IRIN that the people were "leaving fearing more fighting."
"Many of the people fleeing are agro-pastoralists, who would [normally] be tending their farms and livestock, but will now be IDPs (internally displaced persons)," Abdullahi Shirwa of the Civil Society in Action, a coalition of civil-society groups, said. "If fighting continues, I am afraid we are looking a humanitarian disaster."
The fighting began on Tuesday, a day before the arrival of the European Commissioner (EC) for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, who was in the country to mediate between the two sides.
Michel led an EC delegation to Baidoa, where the TFG is based, for talks with President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi. He later travelled to the capital, Mogadishu, for discussions with the UIC, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the chairman of the UIC Consultative Council, and other leaders.
"I am very happy to inform you all that the mission can be considered as a full success because both parties - and this is very important - reiterated their commitment to the Khartoum dialogue process, and political solution to the Somali crisis. This is the first principle that is shared by both parties," Michel told reporters on Wednesday evening in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on his return from Somalia.
The UIC described their meeting with Michel as positive. "We have given our commitment to attend the peace talks in Khartoum," Sheikh Abdirahman Janaqow, the UIC first vice-chairman, who attended the meeting, told IRIN on Thursday.
The TFG said their side of the talks had been open. "We had candid and frank discussions with Commissioner Michel. We have given him our views on the situation in the country and the way forward," Ali Jama Jangali, Minster of Information said.
The fighting which began in Iidale village, 55 km south of Baidoa and Buulo Jadid, 23 km north of Baidoa, spread on Thursday to the Daynunay area, 23 km north of Baidoa, according to a local resident in Buur Hakaba, 60 km north of Baidoa.
Although the fighting subsided on Wednesday evening, "it resumed with a vengeance at midnight", the Buur Hakaba resident said. He added that the southern front was "quiet early Thursday, but picked up late morning.
"Both sides, he added, were mobilising forces and seemed to be gearing up for an escalation in violence, in which both sides are claiming to have the upper hand.
Death toll rises
Medical sources told IRIN that the "death toll on both sides could be as high as 50".
"Both sides are not bringing their dead to hospitals, but the number of wounded which we estimate to be between 150 to 200, indicate that there is a high number of fatalities on both sides," said a doctor in Mogadishu currently in touch with medical personnel in Buur Hakaba and Baidoa.
The UIC are keeping their wounded in Buur Hakaba, and the TFG are taking their wounded to Baidoa, said the Doctor.
The TFG was installed in late 2004 in an effort to bring peace and security to the Horn of Africa country which has been without an effective government for 16 years. In June this year, the UIC defeated the warlords who had controlled Mogadishu since 1991, after the collapse of the regime led by Muhammad Siyad Barre. The UIC has since extended its authority to large areas in the south and central regions of the country.
ah/jm
[IRIN has produced a new film, "Somalia: A State of Need" (18 mins), which takes a balanced look at the country, the current humanitarian situation and the social impact of the Islamic Courts. The film includes rare footage of life in Mogadishu and the rural south. It is viewable online at: http://www.irinnews.org/film/.IRIN is looking at new techniques to distribute its films online in a higher-resolution format. As a trial of one technology option, we are offering a Bit Torrent download of the film at 640×480 size in MPG format. The file is about 450 MB. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested.]
IRIN news
__________________
Al-Quran (8:24)
O ye who believe! give your response to Allah and His Messenger, when He calleth you to that which will give you life; and know that Allah cometh in between a man and his heart, and that it is He to Whom ye shall (all) be gathered.
Why Somalis reject the Transitional Federal Government (TFG)?
Lack of action, period.
Somalia has a no-standing tradition; meaning that if you make a promise, you stick to your words, even if it makes you stubborn.
And when you enter power, people want to see your actions.
The Islamic Courts have opened seized ports, new schools, markets, mosques, and they've managed to clean up Mogadishu, a task the United States could not take on!
Its much like the sitaution in Lebanon and Palestine. There is a government, trasitional or official, but they show very little effort in reaching out to the poeple, they just talk and look good for the cameras. But in those nations, Hamas and Hezbollah have shown their people the love they have; with action and fulfilled promises.
That's the case there on the cover, but the real politics is a bit deeper...
"This world is a blank price tag, and whatever value you put on it, is what its worth to you. I have made this world priceless and worthless, so therefore I have placed my value in the afterlife."
(7-96 If the people of the towns had but believed and feared Allah, We should indeed have opened out to them (all kinds of) blessings from heaven and earth
Fear of a good lashing or having one's head shaved is keeping drivers in Somalia's capital on the straight and narrow.
A few months ago, Mogadishu's chaotic roads were ruled by red-eyed, open-shirted militia, speeding along in their technicals - the open vehicles with anti-aircraft guns mounted on the back - weaving from one side to the other to avoid the potholes.
Today, one of the world's most dangerous cities has been tamed: law-abiding men and women motor along without a gun at their side, keeping steadily to the speed limit, and not daring to swerve for craters.
This transformation is down to the rule of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which took control of Mogadishu in June and much of southern Somalia since then.
They have imposed Sharia law and are at lengths to show that no-one, no matter their clan or influence, is above God's law.
Trials are swift and punishments public: publicity is their policeman.
Applause
Most are astounded by the changes - restaurants are opening, business is booming - and people are proud to show off to visitors their new-found security.
But with reports that Ethiopian troops are in the country backing the beleaguered interim government in Baidoa and peace talks deadlocked in Khartoum, the calls for jihad grow.
It is talk that may win approval amongst the young at rallies after Friday prayers, yet behind the rhetoric the city's residents are sick and tired of the 16 years of fighting Somalia has experienced since the fall of Siad Barre.
"Jihad will mean more deaths. Why can't we use our brains to solve the political stalemate instead of fighting?" a female student recently had the temerity to ask UIC chairman Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in a debate broadcast on the BBC Somali Service.
The 400-strong audience burst into applause before Mr Ahmed had a chance to respond.
Questions then flowed thick and fast from other women.
"Will you allow women to work in the media? Are you the Taleban?"
A known moderate, Mr Ahmed sought to allay their fears: the Islamists, he said, did not want to stop women working.
"Actually, I am happy a woman is asking this question - at a university campus," he said.
Yet it is this uncertainty about the UIC's intentions that marks life in the capital.
For now, Somalis are basking in the novelty of moving about freely, the novelty of seeing a woman behind the wheel, the novelty of militiamen greeting them politely at checkpoints, the novelty of leaving their guns at home. ( Yusuf Garaad, BBC Somali Service editor, Mogadishu)
As most of us have heard that this sense of secutrity has not been given the chance to florish. The neighboring Ethiopian government, who have stated several times that they are not willing to accept an Islamic ruled state in Somalia, and the US are supporting the removed interim government and encouraging to attack the UIC.
May Allah bless our brothers and sisters in Somalia, grant them security, and help them defeat anyone who tries to occupy their land.
Indeed, but what appears to be more-or-less indiscriminate bombing of ICU held towns by Ethiopian planes doesn't exactly hold out much hope.
Those who have invited Ethopian involvement, such as this Mohamed Omar Habeb, are playing a very dangerous game, as are those who seek Eritrean support. Neither country has the slightest interest in Somalia or in furthering Islam (or indeed Christianity or secularism) other than what they can extort from the country; Somalia will just become a battleground for somebody else's war.
Quite true. Sadly in most wars the invited parties only come so they can wage war against anybody they choose with no need to worry about damage to their homeland. Wars are not fought to liberate the oppressed they are fought to strengthen the strong.
I think the interim government is digging itself a hole by inviting excess amounts of Ethiopian troops and hardware. How will the interim government ever be able to speak on its own behalf if its master has boats in its own backyard.
"This world is a blank price tag, and whatever value you put on it, is what its worth to you. I have made this world priceless and worthless, so therefore I have placed my value in the afterlife."
Ethiopia and the exiled goverment of Somalia have already shown wiht whom they bed..
Among the former warlords was Mohamed Omar Habeb ‘Mohamed Dhere’ who is with the Ethiopians and wants to recapture his Jowhar Township some 90km north of the capital.
They lust for power and greed ,,they dont care for the somalis,they only want position.
Inshallah,may they be losers in this life and the next...
Is it true that Eritrea sent thousands of army to help the Islamic Court?
Probably true, but they're most likely in reserves because right now the only non-Somali militia fighting alongside the Islamic Courts are Pakistani, Afghani, and Iranian.
"This world is a blank price tag, and whatever value you put on it, is what its worth to you. I have made this world priceless and worthless, so therefore I have placed my value in the afterlife."
i thought the iranians were all in sadr city right now.
well...... might be..
But why Ethiopia want to wage war to Islamic Court... dont they ever think that, they might offend the Ethiopian Muslims (who constitutes 45% -50% of the population)
They lust for power and greed ,,they dont care for the somalis,they only want position.
Inshallah,may they be losers in this life and the next...
Of course!
Abdullahi Yusuf, the interim president, had a comfortable position as president of the semi-autonomous and historically wealthy region of Puntland, but he gave up his seat short of his term ending, and chased a bigger catch; president of Somalia.
Its all about power in the end.
"This world is a blank price tag, and whatever value you put on it, is what its worth to you. I have made this world priceless and worthless, so therefore I have placed my value in the afterlife."
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