SOMALIA:
Ongoing fighting displaces civilians
Fighting
among rival clans in Desta village, southern Somalia, has
caused movement of displaced people to Afgoi, about 30 km
outside Mogadishu.
Garre
clan elder Ahmed Abdulle told AFP by radio communication on
Monday that occasional gunfire could still be heard in and
around Desta, which is about 50 km south of Mogadishu.
At least
11 people were killed and 21 wounded in fighting within the
Garre sub-clans, AFP reported.
According
to the reports, the conflict was triggered by a dispute within
the Garre clan over a banditry incident involving the killing
of a sub-clan member, whose family retaliated by killing a
member of a rival sub clan.
Ahmed
Abdulle said the warring factions used heavy machineguns and
rocket-propelled grenade launchers before the fighting subsided.
Meanwhile,
at least seven people were killed in the southern port of
Kismayo on Saturday, news agencies said. "Scores" were injured
and eight killed in a battle over khat, a mild narcotic leaf,
AFP reported.
The fighting
started at Kismayo airport when the khat truck into Kismayo
town was ambushed by a rival militia group, triggering several
hours of shooting. According to Reuters, six of the dead were
militia members from both sides, and a woman bystander.
Peace
was reportedly re-established on Sunday after elders intervened
to mediate between rival clans.
SOMALIA:
Mogadishu suffers new round of fighting
In Mogadishu,
the Somali newspaper 'Qaran' reported seven people killed
and five wounded in a gunbattle in Madina District, south-western
Mogadishu, which started on Friday afternoon.
Fierce
fighting broke out between residents and militiamen loyal
to faction leader Hussein Mohamed Aideed, said the report.
Local people had refused to pay taxes imposed by the faction
leader.
According
to the report, militiamen loyal to another faction leader,
Musa Sude Yalahow, joined with civilians in the fight against
Aideed's militia. Both sides used light and heavy weapons,
and continued to battle until midnight Friday.
UN sources
confirmed to IRIN the reported battle in Mogadishu over the
weekend, as well as another one involving a minor faction
leader in north Mogadishu, Ibrahim Rageh, and another in southern
Mogadishu over a roadblock.
Although
fighting in the capital is "mainly local", said the source,
the Somali Peace Conference in Djibouti "has an impact as
who represents who is a critical issue".
"Smaller
militia leaders are opportunistically manoeuvring around the
sensitive question of representation and power," the source
added.
SOMALIA:
Faction leader joins Djibouti talks
Colonel
Omar Jess, an Ogadeni faction leader in southern Somalia,
has joined the Somali Peace Conference in Arta, Djibouti,
a regional journalist told IRIN on Monday.
Jess was
loudly applauded last Thursday, when he addressed the conference,
saying he wanted to make clear his intention to participate
fully in the Djibouti process with the "full knowledge and
consent" of his allies.
He said
although he had initially refused to attend the conference,
he no longer had reservations and said that he hoped other
faction leaders would come to Djibouti.
The US-based
"Bay Centre for Conflict Prevention", a diaspora group, said
in a statement that it was "shocking" that Jess was welcomed
to the conference as he was "actively involved in committing
grave war crimes and human rights abuses".
It said
Jess had ordered the killing of 114 innocent civilians by
his army in the first week of November 1992 in Kismayo, southern
Somalia, which had been witnessed and condemned by Somalis
and internationals.
The Bay
Centre for Conflict Prevention said it "strongly condemns
the decision of the Djibouti government to assist and get
the support of the warlords and war criminals for the Djibouti-sponsored
peace conference" and that investigations should be launched
against Somali war criminals so that they could be brought
to justice.
The Somaliland
administration has also condemned the participation of war
criminals in the Djibouti conference, and has rejected the
conference on the basis that self-declared Somaliland has
established a peaceful and successful government.
SOMALIA:
Islamic leader critical of transitional charter
The chairman
of the main Islamic court in the Somali capital, Mogadishu,
Sheikh Hasan Dahir Aways, has criticised the human rights
clauses in the new transitional charter being drafted at the
Djibouti talks.
In remarks
monitored by the BBC from the daily 'Qaran' web site, Sheikh
Hasan said the charter was detrimental to the teachings of
Islam because it "empowered people and guaranteed respect
for human rights".
"Respect
for human rights is anti-Islamic because it does not allow
for the amputation of arms, legs, and other punishments against
criminals," he was quoted as saying.
Asked
how he would react if the charter was adopted, the cleric
reportedly said that under such circumstances Islam sanctioned
the declaration of holy war and that the necessary steps would
be taken in line with the teachings of Islam.
DJIBOUTI:
OAU pledges support for peace process
Secretary-General
of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Salim Ahmed Salim
pledged "strong" support for the Somali peace process, initiated
by the regional body Inter-Governmental Agency on Development
(IGAD).
PANA news agency quoted him as telling journalists
at the OAU summit in Lome, Togo:"I
believe that while the peace conference is underway, it will
be necessary for all Somali factions to observe some moments
of peace and give the conference a chance to bring normality
back to Somalia."
He also
called on the international humanitarian community to continue
providing much-needed relief for the victims of hunger and
recent floods in Somalia.
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