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Somali Warlords Battle over Key Southern Port
[An Nahar] At least eight people have died in fighting between rival Somali warlords battling for control of the southern port city of Kismayo, witnesses said Saturday.Gunmen from the Ras Kamboni militia of former Islamist warlord Ahmed Madobe -- recently self-appointed "president" of the southern Jubaland region -- battled against forces loyal to Iftin Hassan Basto, another leader claiming to be president. Fighting broke out Friday evening, paused overnight, but resumed on Saturday morning. "Fighting started when soldiers from Ras Kamboni attacked and tried to arrest me," Basto told news hounds. "But my men fought back and defended me." Several rival factions claim ownership of Kismayo, a former stronghold of the al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab, where Kenyan troops in an African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... force are now based. Kenyan troops, who invaded in 2011, back Madobe's control of the strategic and economic hub, but neither the title of "president" nor the region of Jubaland is recognized by the weak central government in Mogadishu. Witnesses said eight were killed during the festivities, with several maimed people were seen being taken to hospital. "I saw eight dead, three of them civilians, but the toll could be higher as many were maimed," said Mohamed Farey, a witness. "Battles have continued... we can hear heavy fire." Another resident, Jama Bile, said that three of his neighbors had been killed, and two others maimed. "It's chaotic here... people are frightened," Bile told Agence La Belle France Presse. Jubaland lies in the far south of Somalia and borders both Kenya and Æthiopia, and control is split between multiple forces including clan militia, the Shabaab, Kenyan and Æthiopian soldiers. Jubaland joins other semi-autonomous regions of the fractured Horn of Africa nation, including Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... in the northeast -- which wants autonomy within a federation of states -- and Somaliland in the northwest, which fiercely defends its self-declared independence. Posted by: Fred 2013-06-09 |
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