Somali leader vows to defend government

Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said on Monday that his government would defend itself from insurgent fighters who have been engaged in fierce fighting with government forces for the fifth day in a row.

"The Somali government's stance is to defend the statehood and sovereignty of the country and to use every possible means to stop the fighting," President Ahmed told reporters during a press briefing in the Presidential Palace in Mogadishu.

The fighting, which is the worst since January, started last Thursday between Somali government forces and fighters from the two main insurgent groups of Al-Shabaab and Hezbul Islam.

The clashes left more than 100 people dead and nearly 300 hundred others wounded, most of them civilians caught up in the fighting in which the warring sides used heavy machine guns, artillery shells and anti-aircraft missiles.

Insurgent fighters have managed to seize a number of key areas from government forces since the start of the clashes.

The Somali president said his government has always been trying to avoid war and accused the opposition groups of not being interested in peace.

"We have always been trying to save the Somali people from chronic wars but unfortunately there are people who made war their profession and do not want statehood, and do not think about the people and their interests and just want to wage continual wars day and night," the president said.

He added other countries have been using Somalia as a place to fulfill their interests, without naming any particular country.

"It is unfortunate that Somalia becomes a place for foreign countries to fulfill their national interests," the president said as the government forces clashed with insurgent fighters in a number of locations in Mogadishu.

The Somali government, which now controls almost one third of Mogadishu and a couple of towns in central Somalia, is struggling to assert its authority in the capital and other provinces in south-central part of the war-torn Horn of Africa country.

Source: Xinhua