Mogadishu is full of weapons
and people are reluctant to disarm
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Somali troops backed by Ethiopian forces
are fighting about 600 Islamist militiamen in the south of the
country, says an interim government spokesman.
Abdirahman Dinari told the BBC
soldiers had surrounded the militia group near the Kenyan border -
which has been reinforced to stop their escape.
US naval forces are deployed off the
Somali coast to prevent leaders of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC)
escaping.
The UIC controlled much of Somalia
until retreating over the past 10 days.
Kenya's government has shut its border
with Somalia, despite criticism from the United Nations' refugee
agency.
Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju said he
believed that combatants were sending their families into Kenya
posing as refugees and therefore the country had every right to
defend its borders.
Meanwhile, talks are continuing across
the region to try to secure an African Union peacekeeping force
for Somalia.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer
have been in Ethiopia meeting Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Ms Frazer is expected for high level
discussions with African leaders and other international
representatives in Nairobi on Friday.
In other developments:
-
The US
is to provide more than $16m in aid to Somalia as an
"initial response" to its humanitarian needs arising
from the recent conflict
-
A
three-day government disarmament exercise in the capital,
Mogadishu, has had little success, raising fears of renewed
instability
-
In
Mogadishu, new judges, including one woman, are sworn in
-
Interim
Interior Minister Hussein Aideed claims there are some 3,500
Islamist fighters still hiding in the capital, warning they
are "likely to destabilise the security of the city"
-
Three
people have been seriously injured in a rocket attack on a
truck in Mogadishu.
Weapons demand
Interim Prime Minister Ali Mohammed
Ghedi is reported to have said forcible disarmament will begin in
Mogadishu at the weekend.
 |
I still hope that key AU members will be glad to
associate their name in what I believe is the most
important peace undertaking in the recent history of
Africa 
|
Few residents have responded to a call
to disarm and the demand for AK-47 rifles, hand grenades and land
mines has risen. In a city of two million people, there are an
estimated one million weapons.
The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in the
capital says although calm has returned, tension is high and
people fear anarchy may return to Mogadishu.
Power vacuum threat
Ethiopia sent heavily armed troops
into Somalia to back up forces loyal to the transitional
government after accusing the UIC of having links with al-Qaeda.
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SOMALIA IN NUMBERS
Ethiopia troops:
8,000-15,000
Government troops:
10,000
Islamists:
600 near Kenyan border;
3,500 around
Mogadishu
Recently displaced:
30,000
Refugees in Kenya: 160,000
Estimated numbers
Sources: Somali
government, UN, correspondents
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They swept the Islamist militias from
areas they had controlled for six months, but the Islamists said
their retreat was tactical and threatened to launch an insurgency.
Ethiopia's prime minister has made it
clear he wants to withdraw his troops within the next few weeks.
The Ethiopians want international
peacekeepers to be deployed to prevent a vacuum which would allow
the re-emergence of former warlords who controlled the country
since 1991.
Uganda has offered to commit 1,000
troops to a 8,000-strong regional peace force.
Mr Museveni says he has troops trained
and ready for this role, once his country's parliament gives its
approval.
The AU commissioner for peace and
security said he hoped other African countries would follow suit.
"I still hope that key AU members
will be glad to associate their name and the name of their country
in what I believe is the most important peace undertaking in the
recent history of Africa," Said Djinnit told the BBC's
Network Africa programme.
