Posted on 12/17/2008 5:42:23 PM PST by SunkenCiv
eavy fighting erupted today in Mogadishu between insurgents and AMISOM peacekeepers at a base of the African Union peace mission in Somalia, witnesses told the local media. Based on these accounts, a commando fired rocket propelled grenades in the KM4 base, a key crossing in southern Mogadishu. Radio Shabelle reports that it is unknown if there were any casualties. News is also unclear from the Afgoi district, in the Lower Shabelle region that surrounds Mogadishu: according to some local reporters, a blast severely damaged an Ethiopian military truck. Somalia, torn by a never resolved civil war since 1991, is in a particularly delicate phase: the government of Addis Ababa recently confirmed its decision to withdraw its troops from the country by the end of the year, which was among the conditions posed by insurgents for an accord with the Baidoa-based Somali transitional government.
(Excerpt) Read more at reliefweb.int ...
UN chief rules out Somalia forceThe time is not right to send United Nations peacekeepers to Somalia, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said.
BBC
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
On Tuesday US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for a UN force to be sent to the conflict-hit nation.
But Mr Ban said the situation in Somalia was too risky and there was no peace to keep.
There was also very limited world support for a multinational stabilisation force, he added, with few countries prepared to take part.
He had contacted 50 nations - but none had agreed to lead such a force and only one or two were willing to send troops, he said.
Somalia has not had an effective national government for 17 years, leading to a collapse of law and order.
Ethiopia-backed government forces have been fighting Islamist insurgents for the last two years, but the Ethiopian troops are due to pull out next month - leaving only the 3,200-strong African Union peacekeeping force behind.
The danger of anarchy in Somalia was "clear and present", Mr Ban said, and action must be taken.
But he said conditions were not in place for sending peacekeepers...
Instead, he said, more efforts were needed on an inter-Somali peace process and to bolster the current African Union force.
Somalia: Explosion Hits Ethiopian VehicleAfgoi &emdash; Big blast targeted to the Ethiopian troop's vehicle has badly damaged an Ethiopian vehicle in Afgoi district in lower Shabelle region, our reporter Hasan Mayow told Shabelle on Wednesday morning.
Shabelle Media Network via AllAfrica.com
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
The explosion has caused the collapse of the Ethiopian truck and other casualties.
The damaged vehicle has come out first from the Ethiopian base in Afgoi and was passing around the Itop factory when the explosion happened.
But after the blast the Ethiopian troops have extended and strengthened the security of that area and halted the movement and transportation of the area where the accident happened and began search operations over there.
"Big blast has taken place at Afgoi district this morning and one Ethiopian vehicle was badly inflicted in that zone. Witnesses told to Shabelle.
Reports from Lafole Residences also say that at least two other blasts happened there recently.
The explosions are always targeted to Ethiopian troops by the Islamist groups who are against to the presence of the Ethiopian troops in Somalia.
Somalia: Land Mine Kills Ethiopian SoldierSomalia &emdash; A land mine explosion has killed an Ethiopian Soldier in Lafole Village 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of Mogadishu residents said on Wednesday.
Shabelle Media Network via AllAfrica.com
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
"The land mine went off after the Ethiopian soldier tried to remove it," a resident said.
Residents say Ethiopian soldiers exploded three land mines in the area but they failed to explode the fourth one which killed the soldier.
Locals in Afgoi district say Wednesday morning blast burnt Ethiopian truck and inflicted casualties to the Ethiopian soldiers.
The Ethiopian troops entered in Somalia in 2006 to help the weak transitional government of Somalia.
The prolonged Ethiopian occupation displaced millions of civilians and killed thousands.
Somali Reports: Fighting in Mogadishu Kills 10Somali news reports say at least 10 people have been killed during fighting between Ethiopian troops backing the government and Islamist insurgents in the capital, Mogadishu.
VOA News
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Witnesses say mortars landed in areas filled with civilians, and that several people also were wounded.
A spokesman for the al-Shabab insurgents said one of their top commanders, Abdullahi Salad Farah, was killed, but that many Ethiopian soldiers died as well...
Islamists, who control the southwestern city of Kismayo, have confiscated trucks carrying food aid. They say the aid discourages farmers from cultivating.
Fighting over the last two years involving Ethiopian-backed government forces and a variety of Islamist groups looking to impose Islamic law has killed thousands of Somalis and displaced at least a million others.
Not this shit again. Rice will put our troops into Somalia but President Obama will let our guys get killed without any air support.... Wait and see if we send in troops it will be a 1993 redux.
The UN proves itself to be pointless again and again. I think of it as a big money laundering operation, and not much more.
But this Ban feller, he’s a ball of fire — “If there is no peace to keep, peacekeeping operations are not supposed to be there”. :’D
A) she won’t — the outgoing administration is Republican, and won’t try to commit the incoming administration (which will be bungling and incompetent at Jimmy Carter levels, but will enjoy an economic boom due to the crude oil crash and be soundly re-elected in 2012) to anything that would detract from either’s stated purpose of winning the war against the Taliban, and B) the air support now is UAVs and those provide great surveillance, as well as being able to stay in the air for hours, and when needed can swing by and blast targets on the ground.
This is the whole reason that we were attacked on 9/11.
Our wonderful president at the time Bill “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” Clinton failed us and bolstered Bin laden.
At least now we will have Hillary “dodging sniper fire on the tarmac” Clinton giving us the real scoop on what is happening there.
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