quote:

---

More than 1,000 people have been killed in recent clashes in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, according to elders from the city's main clan.

Hawiye clan spokesman Hussein Aden Korgab also said more than 4,000 had been injured in some of the heaviest fighting in 15 years.

The clashes came as the government and Ethiopian soldiers battled insurgents - both Islamists and Hawiye fighters. [...]

BBC Somali service editor Yusuf Garaad says the figure of more than 1,000 dead does not come as a surprise as heavy artillery were used in residential areas during the fighting. [...]

The European Union representative in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Eric van der Linden, has called for investigations to establish if the Ethiopian and Somali forces committed war crimes during the fighting.

---

Fatal shelling at Somali market

quote:

---

At least 10 people have died and many have been hurt as Ethiopian forces backing the Somali government shelled Mogadishu's main market, witnesses say.

The attack was launched after mortar rounds landed on the Somali president's official residence while he was holding talks with Ethiopia's foreign minister. ...

Ethiopian troops intervened in Somalia in December 2006 to help government forces oust an Islamist militia.

---

[ 12 April 2008: Message edited by: Mercy ]

Deadly clashes erupt in Mogadishu

quote:

---

Ethiopian troops backing the interim government clashed with Islamic fighters in the north-east of the city.

Five Ethiopian soldiers and 11 civilians are reported to be among those killed. ...

The latest fighting began early on Saturday, when the Ethiopian troops moved against insurgents, but encountered heavy resistance.

Witnesses quoted by the Associated Press news agency say Islamists dragged the bodies of several soldiers through the streets.

The Ethiopians responded with gunfire and heavy artillery.

One mortar shell reportedly fell on a busy restaurant, where five people are said to have died.

---

quote:

---

Ethiopian troops backing the interim government clashed with Islamic fighters in the north-east of the city.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by jester:

is there any opportunity to be an anti-American drama queen that is tooooo biased for you to seize?

---

[ 19 April 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]

[ 19 April 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by unionist:

I'm just striking a balance here. When the pro-U.S. movie moguls, histrionic hicks and frenzied fans simmer down, I'll dilute my bile a bit. Not before then, though.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by martin dufresne:
Interesting that jester identifies "American" with current Pentagon/CIA/government policy, as if to criticize the latter's choices meant to impugn all Americans. Yet, I'm sure he'd pounce on anyone who would desribe all USians as Bush/Cheney fans
P.S.: "drama queen" is a sexist cliché.

[ 19 April 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]

[ 19 April 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]

---

Interesting that you could read all that in "anti-American", Martin. I always though the term was standard boilerplate for "current Pentagon/CIA/government policy".

quote:

---

P.S.: "drama queen" is a sexist cliché.

---

Its a harsh lawless land inhabited by tribal dead-enders and Islamist zealots just like many other failed states.

Somalia's main occupations/sources of foreign exchange are piracy and welfare fraud in Ontario.

I also think that limited intervention by Ethiopia and their sponsors is justified by continuing acts of high seas piracy,if not by welfare fraud in Ontario. Since Somalia lacks any form of accountable government,acts of international lawlessness need be addressed.

France recently sent in the Foreign Legion to capture pirates who held French hostages for ransom - maybe you could devote some bile for them?

quote:

---

Originally posted by jester:
I have an opinion on Somalia.

Its a harsh lawless land inhabited by tribal dead-enders and Islamist zealots just like many other failed states.

Somalia's main occupations/sources of foreign exchange are piracy and welfare fraud in Ontario.

I also think that limited intervention by Ethiopia and their sponsors is justified by continuing acts of high seas piracy,if not by welfare fraud in Ontario.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Erik Redburn:

But this makes no sense. Somalia was once a functioning if poor nation, now it isn't. I doubt "welfare fraud" on whatever scale could account for it.

---

Don't forget piracy.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Erik Redburn:
Cute, I haven't been arguing for communist international much lately....I may have even lost my free subscription and decoder ring. But no, I think they were more functional before the big "Ethiopian" famines of the eighties. Maybe someone could correct me on that just for the fun of it.

---

I'm not being cute. Since independence in 1960, Siad Barre',Soviets,Cubans et al are more topical than Italian and Brit imperialists of the first half of the century. The military coup after Barre' is also of interest.

[ 19 April 2008: Message edited by: Erik Redburn ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by jester:
[qb]I have an opinion on Somalia.

Its a harsh lawless land inhabited by tribal dead-enders and Islamist zealots just like many other failed states.

---

It is a failed state, but pretty unique in that it has failed so thoroughly. Tribal? Yes, but so are lots of other parts of the world. A fundamental Islamic movement? Nothing weird about that. The appeal of the Islamists is to creating a system of law and order that's rooted in local culture - not that there wouldn't be a lot left desired by that, but it's hardly lawless.

quote:

---

Somalia's main occupations/sources of foreign exchange are piracy and welfare fraud in Ontario.

---

Nope. Cows, silly. And alleging that Somali immigrants are defrauding welfare is a pretty serious charge - any evidence? (that's not the singular and 15 year-old Aideed case).

quote:

---

Agriculture is the most important sector, with livestock normally accounting for about 40% of GDP and about 65% of export earnings.

---

quote:

---

I also think that limited intervention by Ethiopia and their sponsors is justified by continuing acts of high seas piracy

---

Where's the connection? It certainly justifies naval patrols and perhaps even in what would otherwise be considered Somali territorial waters. Beyond that, I don't see it.

Besides, the Ethiopian invasion has served only to exacerbate the chronic instability of Somalia. They're there because the Islamists were rather too quickly for Ethiopian (and American) interests establishing their own means of national government, superceding the official (and to that point, mainly useless) UN process.

[ 20 April 2008: Message edited by: Doug ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by jester:
Whining and weeping you say? You should know - is there any opportunity to be an anti-American drama queen that is tooooo biased for you to seize?

---

This is trolling and a personal attack. Cut it out.

P.S. Oh, I see you're on a roll. Sorry, but you don't get to stereotype Somali immigrants as "welfare frauds". You're taking a two week vacation.

[ 20 April 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

Somali fighting claims more lives

quote:

---

At least 13 people have been killed in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in fresh clashes between Islamists and Ethiopian troops backing the interim government.

The deaths bring to at least 33 the number of people killed in two days of heavy fighting in the city.

Four civilians were said to be among the latest victims. ...

About 100 injured civilians have been admitted to hospital - but it is believed continuing fighting has prevented many more from seeking help.

A seven-year-old girl was among the latest civilian casualties - she is reported to have died when Ethiopian tank shells hit her home.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by unionist:
Jester spews out a mocking racist stereotype of Somali immigrants as "welfare frauds", and you people are seriously debating him and asking for evidence? Did Lewis Carroll write this material?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Doug:

I could have just called him names, I suppose, but nobody learns anything that way.

---

It's also important to learn the difference between ignorance and provocation.

quote:

---

It certainly justifies naval patrols and perhaps even in what would otherwise be considered Somali territorial waters.

---

That's an odd comment, Doug. Perhaps you weren't aware of the U.S. naval aggression against Somalia last year? Or did you think that was justified?

From the Stars and Stripes

quote:

---

The Navy went old-school on Somali militants Friday, using naval gunfire against bad guys for the first time in the region since the Persian Gulf War.

It was first reported over the weekend that a U.S. destroyer had shelled Islamic militants in Somalia, where Ethiopian and Islamic government forces are fighting insurgents from the Islamic Courts Union, which the U.S. government has accused of sheltering al-Qaida terrorists.

A senior Defense official confirmed Tuesday that the USS Chafee, based out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, fired more than a dozen rounds from its 5-inch gun during the strike.

---

And then again last month:

U.S. Navy strikes suspected terrorist hideout in Somalia

quote:

---

The U.S. Navy fired at least one missile into a southern Somali town before dawn Monday, targeting a terrorism suspect as an Islamic group with links to al Qaeda appears to be gathering sway again in this lawless African nation.

Residents and police in Dobley said at least eight people, including four children, were seriously injured when a house was destroyed. The attack was confirmed by U.S. officials, who said only that the target was a "known al Qaeda terrorist."

The U.S. military has staged several attacks on suspected extremists in Somalia over the past year amid fears that the Horn of Africa country could become a haven for terrorists.

---

Were you aware of all this, Doug, when you made your comment?

[ 20 April 2008: Message edited by: unionist ]

quote:

---

The bodies of 10 people have been found in a mosque in the Somali capital, after two days of clashes between Ethiopian troops and insurgents.

Local residents blame the killings on the Ethiopians, who are backing the government against Islamist fighters.

Six of the dead are religious leaders from the Tabliq Sufi sect, which is not involved in the conflict.

Some 70 people were killed over the weekend, local residents say. Sporadic shooting can still be heard.

Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein says the government was defending itself during the weekend clashes.

But locals accused the Ethiopians of shelling the residential areas of Hurwa and Yaqshid in north-eastern Mogadishu, after they came under attack. ...

The UN says that more than half of Mogadishu's population has fled recent fighting in the city.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Doug:
I could have just called him names...

---

Ethiopian troops kidnap 40 children: Amnesty International

quote:

---

Amnesty International has accused Ethiopian troops of capturing 40 Somali children during a raid on a mosque last week, and called for their release.

The rights group condemned the killing of more than 20 people, including some religious scholars, during the raid.

It quoted witnesses as saying that many of the dead were unarmed civilians, and that some had had their throats cut. ...

Somalia's Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein said his government was defending itself, with the support of Ethiopian troops, during the weekend's clashes in the capital.

But Amnesty said the throat-cuttings were a form of extra-judicial execution practised by Ethiopian forces in Somalia.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by jester:
I'm not red-baiting, merely illustrating that knee-jerk US and their proxies boilerplate falls short of the mark. While I have no doubt of the legitimacy of Pax Americana concerns, its too simplistic to blame Somalian failures on the US.

---

And sometimes Yanqui imperialists are even criticized in the New York Times

Efforts by C.I.A. Fail in Somalia, Officials Charge 2006

quote:

---

WASHINGTON, June 7 — A covert effort by the Central Intelligence Agency to finance Somali warlords has drawn sharp criticism from American government officials who say the campaign has thwarted counterterrorism efforts inside Somalia and empowered the same Islamic groups it was intended to marginalize.

---

I think the situation in Somalia is looking a lot like Iraq with different and same-on-same militia groups warring against one another. Chaos and mayhem seems to follow Yanqui imperialists where 'er they go and where Canadian stoogeocrats volunteer our troops to prop up U.S. stooges. War and chaos rein merrily...

[ 23 April 2008: Message edited by: Fidel ]

U.S. missile strike kills at least 30, according to local elders

quote:

---

The US military has confirmed that it carried out a pre-dawn missile strike which killed a senior leader of an Islamist militant group in Somalia.

A spokesman said the target of the attack in the town of Dusamareb was an al-Qaeda leader, but would not name him or say whether it had been successful.

The strike hit the home of Aden Hashi Ayro, the military head of al-Shabab, which controls much of Somalia.

At least 10 other people, including another al-Shabab leader, also died.

But local elders have said up to 30 bodies have been recovered from the scene, according to unconfirmed reports....

Dr Ahmed Mahdi at Dusamareb Hospital told the BBC he was treating eight civilians, including women and children, for burns and shrapnel wounds.

---

quote:

---

The question now is what impact the killing of Aden Hashi Ayro will have on the Islamist movement in Somalia.

Some US and Somali officials believe his death is a major setback for the insurgency fighting Somalia's government and its Ethiopian allies.

They argue his brutal methods, including the use of suicide attacks, were deeply unpopular and that his death could make it easier for more moderate Islamists to reach some kind of an agreement with the government.

But they also concede his death could lead to revenge attacks and encourage more young recruits to a movement seen as heroic by many Somalis for standing up to the Americans and their Ethiopian allies.

---

quote:

---

At least 1,000 residents of the central Somali town of Dusamareb have held a protest against a deadly US attack.

The missile strike on Thursday killed the leader of a group which the US links to al-Qaeda. At least 10 others died when a house in the town was hit. ....

[P]eople protested against Thursday's US strike, shouting slogans such as "Down with the Bush administration".

---

quote:

---

Somali troops killed at least two people in the capital, Mogadishu, when they opened fire to halt riots over rising costs and counterfeit money.

Thousands of people rioted, burning tyres and throwing stones after traders refused to accept local notes and demanded US dollars instead. ...

The protesters shouted slogans about the traders such as "down with those refusing the old money and down with the dollar-receivers".

---

quote:

---

"If the rulers of the United States were searching for a plan that would kill hundreds of thousands of Africans, they have found it."

American foreign policy is the direct cause of the humanitarian crisis in Somalia - the worst in all of Africa, according to United Nations officials. That's why, until recent days, U.S. corporate media said little or nothing about the hundreds of thousands of Somalis - now numbering at least half a million - who face death by starvation and disease because of a war instigated and facilitated by Washington. The corporate press methodically avoid - and thereby, cover up - stories that contradict the mythical American narrative: that the U.S. means to do good in the world, and only does wrong by mistake.

---

quote:

---

Posted by unionist: I find it deplorable that not a single member (let alone party) in the Canadian Parliament stands up to condemn this naked aggression and demand that Ethiopia and its U.S. sponsors get out of Somalia.

---

The NDP does have a position on the Somalia conflict which includes the following:

quote:

---

Demand the immediate cessation of all unilateral military action by the US and Ethiopia in Somalia;

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by John K:
The NDP does have a position on the Somalia conflict which includes the following:

---

quote:

---

Civilians are completely at the mercy of armed groups in Somalia, says human rights group Amnesty International.

It says the situation is "dire" in the centre and the south with government troops, their Ethiopian allies and Islamist insurgents "out of control". ...

In one case, "a young child's throat was slit by Ethiopian soldiers in front of the child's mother," the report says.

But this was strongly denied by the Ethiopian government, which says "the cutting of throats of even enemies is not in the tradition of Ethiopian troops".

In another incident, the report quotes Haboon, 56, saying Ethiopian troops raped a neighbour's 17-year-old daughter in 2007.

When the girl's two brothers tried to help her, Ethiopian soldiers gouged out their eyes with a bayonet, she said.

---

[ 07 May 2008: Message edited by: unionist ]

quote:

---

Of course, those few nameless dead or wounded Somali civilians -- swatted like so many flies and forgotten as quickly as flies would be -- don't faintly match up against the "dozens" of Iraqi civilian deaths that, according to Human Rights Watch, were caused by 50 decapitation strikes launched against the top officials of Saddam Hussein's regime back in March 2003. (Not a single official was harmed.)

Nor do they quite make it into the company of the "Afghan elders" being taken to President Hamid Karzai's inauguration back in 2001, who were mistaken "for a Taliban group" and bombed, with 20 killed; nor the 30 or more guests at an Afghan wedding party back in 2002 blown away by 2,000-pound bombs after celebratory gunfire was evidently mistaken for an attack (no apologies offered); nor that wedding party in the Western desert of Iraq near the Syrian border wiped out in 2004 with 42 deaths, including 27 in one extended family, 14 children in all.

They were, of course, taken for terrorists. (As U.S. Major General James Mathis put the matter in offering an explanation: "How many people go to the middle of the desert... to hold a wedding 80 miles from the nearest civilization?")

And these are just a few prominent cases, not including the civilians killed in periodic Predator and other strikes in Pakistani border areas, in Afghanistan, and elsewhere whom no fuss is ever made about -- not here, anyway.

---

quote:

---

What does the word "Islamist" mean?

The millions of people around the globe who practice Islam are called Muslims, but this new term has crept into the language without question or investigation. It seems to apply to Muslims who fight against the occupation of Iraq, or Somalians who don't take kindly to the U.S.-backed Ethiopian government invading their country and killing their countrymen and women. In short, an Islamist seems to be any Muslim who has the nerve to act in opposition to the American government. Like anyone else deemed an enemy, a new word has to be invented in order to dehumanize. If Somalian resistance fighters were called just that, then Americans might question their government's decision to keep killing them.

America's intervention gave Ethiopia license to invade Somalia and begin a horrific cycle of violence. According to Amnesty International, more than 600,000 Somalis have fled from their homes, at least 6,000 are dead and 90,000 children in refugee camps are in danger of death from starvation and lack of hygiene and medical care.

The so-called war on terror is in fact a war of terror practiced against millions of people all over the world. The Muslim religion is used as a convenient scapegoat to further the aims of that war and Somalia is just one of the victims. Somalia is now in the grip of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, and it is all happening under the direction of George W. Bush. In a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions and all international human rights standards, a U.S. naval vessel sent cruise missiles into the city of Dusa Mareb to commit an extra judicial killing, an assassination, of Hashi Aden Ayro, the leader of al-Shabab. Al-Shabab is dedicated to fighting the American backed Ethiopian occupation and is therefore tagged as "Islamist," "terrorist," and "linked to al-qaeda."

---

Somali children invent war game

quote:

---

A group of young children in a Somali town are playing their own form of the "Cowboys and Indians" game - "Islamists and Ethiopians". ...

Al-Shabab's tactics include attacking vehicles, briefly capturing towns, killing government soldiers, stealing weapons and then withdrawing.

The town of Jowhar has seen a number of recent attacks, but the BBC's Ibrahim Moalimu who is based there, was still surprised to find children under the age of 10 pretending to be insurgents and describing their sticks as RPGs and AK-47s.

Their commander, Abdi aged 11, told him they did not go to school, so were pretending to be the al-Shabab militia.

And he said their aim when they grow up was to be fighters.

---

quote:

---

Two policemen have been killed in the Somali capital after their vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb.

Three other people were injured in the attack which occurred a few minutes after a convoy carrying President Abdullahi Yusuf had driven past.

---

Then there's this phoney "ceasefire":

quote:

---

Last week's deal was signed by a top Islamist leader, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and Prime Minister Nur Adde, but another Islamist leader has promised to continue fighting.

The three-month ceasefire provides for Ethiopian troops to leave the country within 120 days.

---

quote:

---

Insurgents in Somalia have launched a rocket and mortar attack on the southern town of Baidoa, seat of the transitional parliament.

It was the first time Baidoa, the only town fully under government control, had been attacked since late 2006.

---

Fierce fighting in Somali capital

quote:

---

Insurgents and Ethiopia-backed Somali government troops have exchanged heavy artillery fire in Mogadishu.

Both sides claimed to have won the battle, fought with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, inflicting high casualties on the other. ...

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says the clashes began when Islamist insurgents attacked a government base.

An Islamist spokesman told the BBC that more than 10 Ethiopian and government troops had been killed.

He admitted that two Islamists had been killed.

An army colonel said 21 insurgents had been killed and an armed truck captured but did not give his own side's casualty figures.

---

quote:

---

About 40 people were killed in Somalia on Friday after roadside bomb blasts prompted Somali and Ethiopian troops to open fire on nearby civilians, witnesses said.

Onlookers said most of the people died when Ethiopian solders shot into traffic and nearby refugee camps after two bomb attacks on their convoy on the road between Mogadishu and the town of Afgoye.

One witness, Ali Jama, said he had counted 35 dead. Sahra Nor Osma, who fled the scene with her two children, said she believed there were more than 30 bodies in the street.

"Ethiopian convoys opened fire into different areas where thousands of displaced people were living. They killed everyone on the road," she said.

---

quote:

---

After the latest attack on minibuses, witness Sahra Nor Osma told the Associated Press news agency: "Ethiopian convoys opened fire into different areas where thousands of displaced people were living; they killed everyone on the road."

Another witness Fadumo Kheyre told AP: "Blood was pouring out of the buses." ...

In a separate incident on Friday, insurgents attacked the convoy of President Abdullahi Yusuf as it was leaving for Ethiopia for talks over the country's fragile ceasefire.

Following that attack, Ethiopian-backed government troops responded by opening fire, killing five civilians.

---

quote:

---

At least 50 people have reportedly been killed in clashes in the Somali capital Mogadishu and the port of Kismayo. ...

Some mortars landed near the compound of President Abdullahi Yusuf, who is currently out of the country.

Another landed near a mosque in the busy Bakara market, killing at least six people, a witness told the BBC. ...

Witnesses say that after the mortars landed in Bakara and near the president's compound, government troops and their Ethiopian allies opened fire, killing several civilians.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by jester:
Let Africans deal with African problems, its none of Canada's business.

---

Good - so you agree that Canada should lobby at the U.N. and other venues, and put pressure for the U.S. to get its bloodstained hands out of Somalia?

quote:

---

Bodies littered this strategic port in southern Somalia and unidentified planes soared overhead yesterday, a day after it was seized by Islamist rebels in fighting that killed at least 70 people. ...

"We are now collecting the corpses lying in the streets," resident Mohamed Farah, 55, told Reuters.

"The town is calm today and we're busy burying the victims of the fighting. The Islamists are at the abandoned sea and air ports, and people here are hoping to reopen their businesses." ...

Fearful residents said large, unmarked aircraft could be seen flying over the area since then.

"We don't know what will happen, but we are scared," said 35-year-old Hussein Ahmed.

It was not clear who sent the planes. The United States, which has launched air strikes inside Somalia in recent months, officially listed al-Shabaab earlier this year as a terrorist organization with close ties to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qa'ida.

---

quote:

---

Amanda Lindhout, 27, had recently arrived in the country with an Australian friend, a man who has also been kidnapped, her father, John Lindhout, said from his home in Sylvan Lake, Alta.

Mr. Lindhout said his information came from the Department of Foreign Affairs, which has been in contact with him throughout the day.

They are missing," Mr. Osman said. "They were taken, diverted from their car and their fixer" about 15 kilometres outside Mogadishu.

"We know that they didn't come back to their hotel. It was supposed to have been midday and now it's almost 10 in the evening, you know, that they have been missing. ... But we don't know who is responsible and where they are."

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by unionist:

Good - so you agree that Canada should lobby at the U.N. and other venues, and put pressure for the U.S. to get its bloodstained hands out of Somalia?

That's been a key point of my updates to this thread. Thanks for summing it up so succinctly.

---

Sure. The UN is a useless,dysfunctional cesspool used as a stage for competing geopolitical interests. it is a place for heads of state to hide their idiot relatives,reward bagmen and generally provide some pork for those they wish to rid their domestic scene of without whacking them.

quote:

---

Originally posted by jester:
The UN is a useless,dysfunctional cesspool used as a stage for competing geopolitical interests.

---

quote:

---

Renewed fighting has broken out in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, with African Union peacekeepers coming under attack from Islamist insurgents.

At least 15 civilians have died since clashes erupted late on Tuesday and people are fleeing the city.

Insurgents attacked Ugandan peacekeepers, who responded with tank and artillery fire.

On Monday about 30 people were killed and dozens wounded in some of the worst violence Mogadishu has seen in months.

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says Islamist insurgents have been gaining ground in the city in their fight against the Ethiopian-backed government.

---

It should say, "the U.S.-backed Ethiopian-backed government".

North American media continue to blissfully ignore this war.

quote:

---

At least 15 people have been killed after shells were fired at the main market in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, witnesses say.

Islamist insurgents fired mortars at the presidential palace from positions in the Bakara market, reports a BBC correspondent in the city.

Government troops and their Ethiopian allies responded and a shell landed in a busy part of the market. ...

UN sources have told the BBC they are leaving the town [Baidoa], where Somalia's parliament is based, because of fears that the violence in Mogadishu could spread.

Baidoa, a strategic town on the main road from Mogadishu to Ethiopia, is one of the few parts of Somalia under government control, correspondents say. ...

The latest deaths come after a coalition of 52 aid agencies issued a statement saying the international community had "completely failed Somali civilians".

The aid groups estimated that almost 40,000 people had been displaced from Mogadishu in the last few weeks, with 1.1 million uprooted in the last nine months.

Human Right Watch said Somalia was the most ignored tragedy in the world today.

---

quote:

---

Heavy fighting has left at least 20 people dead and dozens more injured in clashes across the Somali capital, Mogadishu, officials and witnesses say.

Islamist insurgents have been engaged in fierce battles with government troops and their Ethiopian allies, and both sides suffered casualties.

Five people were also reported killed when a mortar hit their house. ...

More than three million people - almost half of Somalia's population - need food aid, according to the UN.

Aid agencies recently estimated that 1.1 million people had been uprooted from Mogadishu over the last nine months.

---

quote:

---

Somalia's humanitarian crisis is nowhere near an end – but the cause of it might be. Ethiopia may be preparing to end its bloody occupation of its neighbor, which began with the invasion of December 2006, at the instigation of the United States. If the Ethiopians are, indeed, going, they are leaving Hell behind. Half the population has been displaced, in what the United Nations has called "the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa." The capital city, Mogadishu, once home to three million people, is empty of civilians. The puppet government installed by Ethiopia is said by the UK's Sunday Herald to "control just three small areas in Mogadishu and a few streets in Baidoa, the seat of parliament." If the Ethiopians withdraw, the so-called "transitional government" is unlikely to survive.

The United States' own Voice of America reports that all of Ethiopia's opposition parties now demand the regime bring the troops home. It is also clear that the Bush administration wants the Ethiopians to remain in Somalia, as U.S. surrogates. Their departure could lead to a quick pullout of an African Union so-called "peace-keeping" force made up mostly of Ugandans, who have acted as proxies for the United States elsewhere on the continent.

In less than two years, George Bush and his Ethiopian military allies have reduced Somalia to a wasteland. The U.S. is widely – and justifiably – despised by Somalis, who have been bombed and strafed by American airpower, and know full well that Ethiopia would not have invaded without massive U.S. urging and assistance.

---