Somalia
Somalia Clashes Kill 10 People, Including Four Peacekeepers
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Aug 30, 2010 - 7:04:09 AM

Aug. 30 (Bloomberg) -- At least 10 people died, including four African Union peacekeepers, in fighting in Somalia’s capital between forces loyal to the Western-backed government and al-Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels.

The AU troops died when a mortar hit the presidential palace in southern Mogadishu, Major Barigye Ba-Hoku, a spokesman for the continental body’s peacekeeping mission, said in a phone interview today from the city.

“We have lost four soldiers and eight others have sustained injuries,” Ba-Hoku said.

In the city’s central Bakara market, six people were killed near a jewelry kiosk, said Ali Muse Sheikh, a paramedic at Nationlink and Lifeline Africa.

Clashes between Somalia’s government and Islamist groups including al-Shabaab, which began in 2007, intensified on Aug. 23 when the group declared a new offensive aimed at ousting the administration of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

Most of southern and central Somalia has already been seized by the rebels, while the government controls only portions of Mogadishu. The country is host to more than 2,000 foreign fighters, from India, Pakistan and elsewhere, who are providing funds and training for terrorist operations, according to the AU.

Sheikh Sharif today appealed for “urgent” international help to defend the country against terrorism.

Political Chaos

“It is quite impractical to expect that Somalia alone can contain the evil al-Qaeda-Al-Shabaab alliance, as Somalia is emerging from 20 years of destruction and a chaotic political environment,” Sheikh Sharif said in a statement today.

Last week’s escalation in fighting came after African nations pledged to strengthen their peacekeeping force in Somalia as they attempt to stop the conflict from spreading to neighboring states. Al-Shabaab, which the U.S. accuses of having links to al-Qaeda, last month claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, in which 76 people died.

Somalia hasn’t had a functioning central administration since the ouster of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. The Horn of Africa nation is one of the poorest in the world, according to the World Bank.

Source: Bloomberg