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Rebels give up control of Mogadishu
THE Islamist rebels known as al-Shabab have abruptly pulled out of the Somalian capital Mogadishu, leaving the entire city in the hands of the government for the first time in years and raising hopes that aid organisations could now deliver assistance to more famine victims unfettered.Witnesses described truckloads of heavily armed al-Shabab fighters driving away under the cover of darkness. ''I saw a convoy of about a dozen pickup trucks full of fighters coming from Mogadishu,'' said Osman Farole, a resident of Afgooye, about 30 kilometres outside the capital. ''Among the convoy were two black-tinted four-by-four vehicles that are supposed to carry their leaders.'' ''We have been dreaming of this day for the last three years,'' said Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Somalia's new Harvard-educated Prime Minister. Aid groups hoped that an al-Shabab retreat would allow them access to more parts of Mogadishu, where more than 100,000 famine victims are camped out waiting for help. But al-Shabab still controls large parts of southern Somalia that have been the worst hit by drought and famine, and it is not clear when Western aid groups will be able to get into those areas. The rebels said that they had ''completely vacated Mogadishu for tactical purposes'', according to Ali Mohamud Rage, an al-Shabab spokesman, adding that al-Shabab would change its strategy to ''hit-and-run attacks''. ''We will be back soon,'' he warned. Posted by: tipper 2011-08-07 |
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