| Because, you know, Mogadishu's been such a PEACEFUL place for most of its history ... |
 Mogadishu residents have been subjected to the worst kind of terrorism for the past six days. Two armed groups have been bombarding each other's turfs with all sorts of weaponry from rocket propelled grenades (RPG) to anti-aircraft machine guns and area artillery shells causing hundreds of deaths and exodus of new internal refugees fleeing from affected areas.
| Actually, that's not "terrorism," per se. The two sides aren't trying to terrorize the citizenry into anything. They're just mushrooms. This is a civil war. |
Many analysts say the worst is yet to come unless some miracles happen. There's no border between the warring factions and each controls pockets in the city which are surrounded by other pockets controlled by the other. The worst fight Mogadishu witnessed was when late Mohamed Farah Aidid and Ali Mahdi tried to force the other out of the city in 1992. The difference today is there is no green line that separates the two and it is widely believed Mogadishu became the latest USA and Al-Qaeda battlefield. Somalis are fighting but each side is accusing the other of working for foreign interest.
| I confess. That was me. Sorry. My bad. |
Many Somalis see this war and Mogadishu's other recent clashes as a proxy war between the US and al-Qaeda. Prior to this all-out war, many religious leaders, intellectuals and former government and army officers were assassinated by unknown and often masked gunmen. USA and Ethiopia were blamed by many for the killings of the religious men while Al-qaeda was blamed for other deaths.
| Somalis, y'see, are peaceful folk, who never kill each other unless they're under remote mind control... |
It is widely known that many faction leaders were being whisked into and out of Nairobi by unmarked private planes and one of those men, talked to the public on many occasions saying, The American government is distributing a lot of money for flushing out Al-Qaeda affiliated men from the capital.
| Sounds good to me. Bumping off bad guyz without spending any American lives is a good thing, from where I sit... |
Sheik Yusuf Mohamed Siad known as Indha Ade, who controls a good junk of southern Somalia, including the port city of Marka talked to many Mogadishu radio stations and said he met with US officials many times, both in Somalia and in Kenya and was offered five million dollars for handing over non-existent al-Qaeda members to the American authority. Shaik Siad unlike many Mogadishu warlords who took the money and started Mogadishu's current unrest, he refused to be bought. "I don't understand why America is arming these warlords who have been terrorizing Somalia and its capital city for over fifteen years. Is American public better than poor Somalis who are dying in this unjust war?" he said in one of the interviews he gave Mogadishu radio stations.
"If America is fighting terrorism, it must not support it in other countries." He said.
| I'm hoping we're shoveling money to both sides, with the ultimate aim of killing them all off. |
Although he is not a member of the Islamic Courts alliance, Sheik Siad fully supports their cause and he is said to be actively involved in the battle.
| "You cannot buy me with your filthy lucre! At least, not for the amount offered." |
On the other side of the fence, Mogadishu's most powerful men who have been relinquishing territories to the Islamic courts in the past few months formed a new alliance and claim to be hunting non-Somali Al-Qaeda members who are hiding in some parts of the city. The new alliance lost territories in their first two combats with the Islamic courts. They lost one airport and make-shift sea-port while another airport controlled by strong man, Mohamed Farah Qanyare is cut-off from the rest of the city, rendering it useless. Mr. Qanyare admitted losing a lot of revenue do to the closure of his airport. "The kitchens of twenty-two thousand families were affected by the closure." He said in a radio interview.
| My heart bleeds. Do we have any Tums? |
Both sides are accusing the other of working for non-Somali foreign interests in order to gain some public support. Somalia has been without a government for the past fifteen years after Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991. Subsequent tries for national government did not succeed. The current one is confined in Baydhabo. |