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Africa Horn

Two killed in violent Guriel Protest

2015-01-02

GURIEL, Somalia -- Two protesters died after hundreds staging rally in support of the paramilitary group of Ahlu Sunnah Wal jamea broke into a police compound in Galgaduud region town of Guriel on Thursday, Garowe Online reports. Guriel Deputy Mayor Ali Bashi told reporters that a young man and a woman died from shots fired by soldiers manning army facilities. He added that investigations have been launched into the deadly incident. Meanwhile, Guriel hospital Director-General Dr. Ali Omar has confirmed that seven wounded people have been admitted for medical treatment. Witnesses reported that the protest turned violent after angry crowds threw stones at armored vehicles and stormed Guriel police station. Militias loyal to Somalia Federal Government dislodged Ahlu Sunnah from Guriel and Dhuusamareeb in mid-December. Ever since, precarious ceasefire brokered by Ugas Hassan Ugas Mohamed Nur has been prevailing. Following three days of clashes, Somali government forces wrested control of Guri’el without resistance on December 15. In Late July, a tripartite deal by Ahlu Sunnah, Galmudug authorities and Himan and Heeb local administration cleared the way for the establishment of new federal state in central Somalia.

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Africa North

As rebels prepare for push on Tripoli, France grows impatient

2011-07-12

Frank G will also be impatient: the technical in the pic at the link is NOT a Ford F-150... MISRATA/PARIS: Libyan rebels dug into defensive positions and hoarded ammunition on Monday, stalled in their advance toward Tripoli in a slowing campaign that is starting to irk NATO allies. France expressed impatience over the weekend at the inability to reach a political solution to the crisis after months of static fighting, and stepped up pressure on rebels to negotiate an end to the conflict. But French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Monday the NATO-led alliance still needed to keep up its military pressure on Qaddafi’s army and reiterated that his stepping down was a necessary condition for an end to the conflict. France also denied comments by one of Gadaffi’s sons that it was in direct talks with the Libyan leader’s government. At one of Libya’s two major front lines, Misrata, rebels were dug into defensive positions and conserving ammunition, getting ready to push against pro-Qaddafi forces in the neighboring town of Zlitan. Zlitan is the first in a chain of coastal towns blocking the rebels on a westward march to the capital, Tripoli. “Right now we are just waiting for ammunition and getting ready to go, but in my opinion if we had more ammunition we could already be in Zlitan,” said rebel fighter Ali Bashir Swayeba, a 29-year-old dentist. While a Reuters reporter near the front said fighting was more quiet than on Friday, there were still periodic bursts of fire and an occasional explosion of a Grad rocket. At the nearby field hospital, medical workers said there were nine injuries, a quiet day for a front that regularly sees several deaths and a score of injuries. The rebels have refused to hold talks as long as Qaddafi remains in power, a stance that before now none of NATO’s major powers had publicly challenged. A son of the Libyan leader, Saif Al-Islam, told Algerian newspaper El Khabar in an interview on Monday that Qaddafi’s government was in talks with the French government. Speaking from Tripoli, he was quoted by the newspaper as saying, “The truth is that we are negotiating with France and not with the rebels.” “France said: ‘When we reach an agreement with you (Tripoli), we will force the (rebel) council to cease fire,’” he was quoted as saying. France’s Foreign Ministry denied it was in talks with Qaddafi’s government. With the conflict stalemated, cracks are emerging inside the NATO alliance. Some member states are balking at the burden on their recession-hit finances, and many are frustrated there has been no decisive breakthrough. There was no immediate reaction to the French minister’s comments from the rebel leadership at its headquarters in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. Rebel forces trying to march on Tripoli have made modest gains in the past week, but the fighting on Monday underlined it would be a long slog. In the Western Mountains region southwest of Tripoli, rebels again came under fire from Qaddafi’s forces. A rebel spokesman in Nalut, Mohammed, said rebels were able to destroy two houses used as ammunition warehouses near Libya’s border with Tunisia. Qaddafi’s forces launched a heavy artillery bombardment to try to push back rebel fighters who last week seized the village of Al-Qawalish, 100 km south of Tripoli. Al-Qawalish is a strategic battleground because if the rebels manage to advance beyond it, they will reach the main highway leading north into Tripoli.

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Africa Horn

Kismayu clears bodies after deadly clashes

2008-08-25

(CNN) -- Families were beginning to bury their dead Saturday after three days of heavy fighting in the Somali port town of Kismayo left at least 89 people dead and 207 wounded, according to residents and human rights organizations. Bodies littered the streets for two days after the clashes, despite the Islamic tradition of burying bodies within 24 hours of death, said Ali Bashi Abdullahi Igal, head of the Fanole Human Rights Organization, who is in Kismayo. Relatives and human rights workers, afraid to venture out because of ongoing fighting, did not retrieve the bodies until Saturday. Only one doctor, surgeon Hassan Ahmed, remained in Kismayo to treat the wounded at Kismayo Hospital. He told CNN planes were continuing to fly over the city on Saturday, and residents were fearful the government might drop bombs in order to stop Islamist militants from taking further action. Among his patients were a man and a woman -- both comatose after being shot in their heads, Ahmed said. He said he has advised their families to take them out of the country for treatment, since no hospital in Somalia has the facilities to deal with such serious wounds. Igal said Friday that, with only one doctor and two nurses at Kismayo Hospital, the city's only operational one, patients were "suffering at the hospital." Fighters from the Islamic group Al Shabab took control of Kismayo on Friday after three days of clashes. Igal said the fighting displaced some 5,500 people, triggering a humanitarian crisis. During Friday's final day of fighting, 15 civilians were killed, he said. They included a mother and two children, ages 3 and 5, who were crushed when their house collapsed under heavy anti-aircraft fire. "We are condemning this inhumane acts of violence," Igal said. "Both sides have breached the international laws." Halimo Mohamed Hassan, a mother in Kismayo's Alaney neighborhood, said Friday was the worst day of fighting, with "both sides using a lot of heavy guns including anti-aircraft guns. My children and I took cover under our beds and we stayed for three hours, 'til the situation subsided." Hassan said heavily armed Islamist militias remained on the streets.

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Africa Horn

Somalia reports airstrike, possibly by US

2008-05-27

Airstrikes, possibly by U.S. planes, caused explosions in a remote area in southern Somalia, officials said Monday. There was no immediate information on casualties. Buale town chairman Ibrahim Noleye said planes were heard flying nearby Sunday night, followed by two loud explosions that shook the ground. Buale is 255 miles southwest of the capital, Mogadishu. A U.S. military official said there was no information about U.S. planes activities in Somalia. "Nope, didn't hear a thing." Noleye said he had contacted officials in nearby villages, who told him by two-way radio that the planes had hit an area between Buale and another town called Sakow. He could not say who launched the airstrike Sunday night. But only U.S. aircraft have launched such strikes in Somalia in recent months. The Somali government does not have an air force. Ethiopian troops based in Somalia have not been reported to conduct airstrikes. Maybe it was the Norweigans ... I'm betting on Guatamalans. "We saw a big light which followed hours of the sounds of planes, and then we heard two big explosions between Buale, where we are, and Sakow," Noleye told The Associated Press by telephone. The area is sparsely populated and used primarily for grazing livestock such as camel and goats. "We contacted some of our people on the ground and they confirmed that it was a(n) (air)strike," Noleye said, adding that soon afterward they lost radio contact. Ali Bashi Ahmed, chairman of Fanole Human Rights Organization, also said he heard loud explosions, but did not know where they had occurred. Ahmed spoke by telephone from the port town of Kismayo, southwest of Buale. Duale Ganane, a colonel and a commander of a local militia, said, "we saw a light just a second before three huge explosions in the jungle north of Buale." Aid worker Hassan Mohamed, who asked that his agency not be identified, said: "the light was like a star falling to earth." Former military officer Muhidiin Nur Salah said, "I think it was an unknown device because in my view point no one can see a missile coming." American officials confirmed a U.S. airstrike on May 1 that killed Aden Hashi Ayro, the head of the military wing of Somalia's Islamists, along with 24 other people. Members of the military wing called al-Shabab, meaning "The Youth," have vowed to avenge his death.

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Africa Horn

Islamist fighters seize Somali town

2008-05-18

Islamic insurgents in Somalia seized a major agricultural center overnight, sending hundreds of people fleeing, a human rights leader said Saturday. The attack underscored the government's vulnerabilities, as U.N.-sponsored peace talks stalled in neighboring Djibouti. Ali Bashi, of Fanole rights group, said the Islamic Courts Union ousted militiamen loyal to Somalia's fragile government from Jilib overnight and were patrolling the southern town Saturday. Two militia fighters were killed and three others were wounded in the fighting, he said, citing reports from his office in Jilib. Jilib resident Mohamed Sandhere said he saw two dead government fighters near a checkpoint and five others, including two civilians, who were badly wounded. After the insurgents entered the town from several directions, the two sides fought with guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The Islamic militants seized some weapons and equipment from the government side, including four armored trucks, said witness Elmi Ali. Hundreds of refugees were streaming out of the town Saturday. "These people already had fled from fighting in Mogadishu and today again were forced to flee because they fear more violence," Bashi told The Associated Press in a telephone call from the southern Kismayo town. Jilib had a population of about 5,000 before the influx of people displaced from the capital. The town is in a volatile area where two foreign U.N. contractors were abducted months ago. The Briton and Kenyan still are missing. The head of a Somali humanitarian organization was killed by masked gunmen in Kismayo. In a separate attack on Saturday night, the head of a Somali humanitarian organization was killed by masked gunmen in Kismayo, a relative told The Associated Press. Ahmed Bariyow, the head of Somalia's Horn Relief organization, was killed as he was walking home in Kismayo. His cousin, Ahmed Yonis, said he was walking behind Bariyow when three masked men armed with pistols stopped him and fired repeated shots into his chest and head. Aid workers are being targeted as the Horn of Africa nation confronts drought and a refugee crisis that will leave nearly half the population of 8 million in need of emergency food aid by the year's end, according to the United Nations. In January in Kismayo, a Kenyan surgeon, a French logistics expert and a Somali driver working for Doctors Without Borders-Holland died in a landmine blast. Somalia's weak U.N.-backed government has been struggling to quash a re-emerging Islamist insurgency. In December 2006, neighboring Ethiopia sent troops that still are propping up the government. Thousands of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands forced from their homes in a burgeoning humanitarian crisis. Islamist insurgents have intensified attacks since a U.S. airstrike May 1 killed the alleged al-Qaida leader in Somalia. The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Thursday calling for a U.N. political presence in Somalia for the first time in years and said it would consider deploying U.N. peacekeepers to replace African Union troops, if there is improved political reconciliation and security. But another round of peace talks ended in Djibouti on Friday with no more than an agreement to meet again May 31. U.N. negotiators failed to organize direct talks between the government and the biggest opposition alliance, which supports the insurgency. The Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia said it would not be involved in direct talks until the government agrees to a timetable for Ethiopian troops to withdraw. Without Ethiopian support, it is feared the government would fall.

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