Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Somali leader blames hardliners

Somalia's embattled President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has blamed radical Islamists for the renewed bloodshed in Mogadishu, in a BBC interview.

President Sharif said the hardliners had no interest in ending the violence and wanted to take Somalia by force.

Four days of fighting between pro-government forces and Islamist groups has left more than 50 people dead.

President Sharif took office in January leading the Western-backed government after UN-brokered peace talks.

But even his fragile administration's introduction of Sharia law to the strongly Muslim country has not appeased the radical guerrillas who battle pro-government forces and African Union troops in the capital almost daily.

President Sharif told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme: "You see that the opposition is using the violence and killing and bloodshed, they don't want the violence in Somalia to end and the objective is to take the country by force.

"We are trying to complete setting up the Somali armed forces which is under way now. We need to pass this difficult stage."

The fragile interim government has been fighting radical Islamist groups like al-Shabab in long-running violence which has killed thousands of people since 2006.

The latest bloodshed began on Thursday and escalated over the weekend in a district close to the presidential palace, then continued on Monday.

Witnesses said at least two people were killed when a mortar shell landed near a cafe in northern Mogadishu, according to reports.

Journalist Mohammed Sheikh Noor in Mogadishu told the BBC's Network Africa programme residents were fleeing with their belongings in streets littered with dead civilians.

Meanwhile, maritime officials later announced Somali pirates had released a Greek owned chemical tanker that was seized in March.

'Somalia's tragedy'

Eighteen Filipinos and a Russian were on board the Nipayia when it was hijacked off the coast of Somalia. It is not clear if a ransom was paid for its release on Saturday.

Foreign navies have been patrolling the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden to deter pirates.

But attacks increased tenfold in the first three months of the year compared to the same period last year and at least 18 vessels are still being held by Somali pirates.

The UN's special representative to Somalia, Mohammed Ould Abdullah, earlier told the BBC efforts to negotiate peace were complicated by the constantly shifting array of factions.

"This is the tragedy of Somalia - every group is hiding another group, which is itself hiding another group," he said.

Somalia, a nation of about eight million people, has experienced almost constant conflict since the collapse of its central government in January 1991.

Source: BBC

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