Somalia ’s interim president has criticized the international community for “doing too little” to help stabilize the war-torn country, as at least 10 people were killed in continued Mogadishu violence, Radio Garowe reports.
Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the president of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG0, arrived in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Saturday where he spoke publicly critical of the international community's role.
"The Kampala bombings is evidence that the anti-government forces in Somalia are now spreading mayhem to other African countries as we warned before," President Sheikh Sharif said.
On July 11, at least 70 people were killed in the Ugandan capital Kampala in bombings claimed by Al Shabaab insurgents in Somalia.
President Sheikh Sharif vowed that the weak government he leads, which is cornered to a few districts of Mogadishu and protected by Uganda-led African Union troops, will "begin a new war to eliminate the anti-government groups and our troops have completed training."
President Sheikh Sharif said Al Shabaab insurgents "bombed Uganda because of its role in AMISOM," a reference to the African Union troops in Mogadishu, adding: "But this [attack] has strengthened the world's resolve to defeat the insurgents and their foreign fighters."
Somalia's interim president is on a three-day official visit to Cairo and is expected to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Artillery hits civilian areas
Continued artillery shelling in Mogadishu's busy Bakara Market killed at least five people since Friday, as Al Shabaab insurgents and AMISOM troops exchanged artillery.
Northern Mogadishu districts Kaaraan and Abdi-aziz were hit with artillery, causing the death of four Somali civilians inside a home.
Local sources report that at least 15 people have been wounded in the newest bout of fighting in Mogadishu.
Keysaney Hospital staff said 9 civilians were being treated for wounds, including a mother and several children.
Somalia's UN-backed government controls very little of Mogadishu and has struggled to assert itself domestically among the various Somali factions and sub-state entities.
This is President Sheikh Sharif's first official visit to Egypt, the regional arch-foe of Ethiopia over the Nile River water source.
GAROWE ONLINE
