Cease-fire declared after dozens killed in Somalia

Tuesday, May 9, 2006
MOGADISHU, Somalia (Reuters) -- The latest flare-up between Islamic militia and a self-styled anti-terrorism alliance of warlords in Somalia's capital has killed at least 57 people, sources from both sides said Tuesday.
But late Tuesday, a top Islamist said that the Islamic militia would observe a cease-fire to end fighting in Mogadishu's rundown Siisii area that has also wounded 103, mostly civilians.
"Following requests from traditional elders and activists and growing concern from the general public, we have decided to cease fighting," Shiekh Sharif Ahmed, chairman of the Mogadishu Islamic Courts, told reporters in the coastal city.
It was not immediately clear whether the warlord coalition would join in to stop fighting that has raged since Sunday.
The group held a closed-door meeting, and their spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Many diplomats say they believe the clashes have been fueled by U.S. support for the warlords, who are unpopular among many citizens because their militias have victimized them or extorted money from them at checkpoints for years.
Witnesses earlier had said dozens had been killed.
"I am sure 20 people died today. Nearly 60 have died so far since the battle began on Sunday," Abdifatah Abdikadir, a resident living near the Kilometer 4 area of Mogadishu, told Reuters by telephone.
The area is where two people were killed and several others wounded when Islamic courts militia attacked a passing convoy of coalition militia.
The Horn of Africa nation of about 10 million people has been a battleground for feuding militia groups since the toppling of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
But this year's fighting in Mogadishu, a city awash with AK-47s and heavy military hardware, has been the worst for years. Two previous battles in February and March killed some 90 people.
"Most parts of the capital are burning," a worried Abubakar Hassan said.
The violence is a setback to plans by an interim Somali government -- the 14th attempt to restore central rule in 15 years -- to move from its provincial base Baidoa to the capital. It is also impeding relief efforts in a nation where nearly 2 million people rely on emergency food aid.
Around Mogadishu, thousands of internal refugees live in squalor in the war-scarred shells of former government buildings.
Fighters on the Islamic militia side are linked to Mogadishu's powerful sharia courts and funded by local businessmen. Coalition leaders and diplomats say they include some al Qaeda-trained fighters.
Washington has long viewed mainly Muslim Somalia as a potential haven for Islamic militants, and it is thought by many both inside and outside the nation to be sending money to the Mogadishu warlords as part of its counterterrorism strategy.
Even Somalia's interim President Abdullahi Yusuf said last week Washington was backing the warlords, whose new coalition dubs itself the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism.
U.S. officials have mainly avoided comment.