| Islamists continue violence in Somalia...
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Mogadishu residents told to leave
Friday, 12 March 2010 - Mogadishu’s mayor tells residents to leave parts of the Somali capital, as fierce fighting against insurgents continues.
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At least 50 people have been killed in three days of Islamist insurgent attacks, witnesses and officials say. Mayor Abdurisaq Mohamed Nor said the long-anticipated government offensive may start soon, so residents should withdraw at least 2km (1.25 miles). About half of Mogadishu’s residents have already fled the city after two decades of conflict.
The BBC’s Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says this is the heaviest fighting since May 2009, when insurgents tried to topple the weak UN-backed government. He says those still in the city have not yet responded to the mayor’s call.
“We urge the civilians to flee from the battle zones and go at least 2km away to avoid being hit," Mr Nor said. The United Nations Refugee Agency estimates that some 33,000 people have been driven from their homes in Mogadishu over the past six weeks.
'Trapped'
Our reporter says government forces are shelling insurgent front lines, to stop them advancing towards the few areas under control of government forces, who are backed by African Union peacekeepers. “My oldest son is still there to take care of the house and the property” - Adow Yusuf Da’ud
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US Denies Direct Military Aid to Somali Transitional Authorities
12 March 2010 - The U.S. State Department’s chief Africa diplomat said Friday the United State is not providing direct military aid to Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, the TFG. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson also told reporters the military position of the TFG is not as precarious as depicted in most news reports.
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The United States has acknowledged giving military advice and in the past brokering delivery of some weapons to the transitional authorities, while also providing training and logistical support for African Union peacekeepers in Somalia. But Assistant Secretary Carson says the United States has no military advisors or troops on the ground in Somalia and does not want to Americanize the long-running conflict there.
Carson spoke to reporters at the State Department with the aim, he said, of refuting recent press reports - including an account by the New York Times - that covert U.S. forces may stage air strikes or otherwise become directly involved in helping the TFG in a planned offensive against Islamic insurgents. “The United States does not plan, does not direct, and does not coordinate the military operations of the TFG and we have not and will not be providing direct support for any potential military offensives. Further we are no providing, or paying for military advisers for the TFG. There is no desire to Americanize the conflict in Somalia," he said.
Fighting in the Somali capital Mogadishu has increased in recent days with insurgent fighters of the al-Shabab militia, said to be affiliated with al-Qaeda, fighting government troops and African peacekeepers near the national palace.
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