Somalia: Rebels Advance Towards State House

Abdulkadir Khalif

Mogadishu — Nowadays, mortar shells regularly land inside the presidential palace in Mogadishu, killing, this week alone, three African Union peacekeepers from Uganda and injuring others. Even gunfire and stray bullets hit the walls of the fortified compound.

The nearest post held by anti-government fighters is Florenza, just about 1,000 meters away from Villa Somalia, the state house in Mogadishu.

Even without a telescope, the presidential guards can see masked men along Wardhigley alleys, trying to shoot pro-government forces in the frontline. To further tighten the noose around the State House, more Islamist fighters have been deployed to the northeastern road junctions including Sinai, Afarta Jardino and Sana'a.

This made Wadnaha Avenue technically unusable because strategic road intersections like Hararyale, Adan Adde and Howl-wadag have all fallen in to the hands of Al-Shabaab and Hizbu Islam, the Islamist groups vehemently opposing the Transitional Federal Government.

The eastern portion of Mogadishu has always been considered as safe, Karaan, Abdulaziz and Shibs districts being the first to see the sun rising from the Indian Ocean. Until recently, no major fighting had taken place even during the 15 years of rule by the infamous secular warlords in the Somali capital.

The fortune of the inhabitants of these districts changed in early June. In one of the most unexpected ways, opposition fighters loyal to Al-shabaab movement and Hizbu Islam waged an offensive at Galgalato suburb, cutting off supply route between Mogadishu and the boroughs to the north of the city.

No one believed that those Islamists could advance to areas mainly inhabited by government supporters and by people displaced from other areas of the city affected by previous confrontations. Contrary to all imaginable guesses, the masked Islamists chased the pro-government forces from their positions through nocturnal operations.

Many people woke up to see the Jihadists at their doorsteps and around Karaan market.

Since clan militias in informal dresses and paratroopers mainly in green uniforms were in strategic positions, the Islamists would never find the pro-TFG a pushover. By June 18, however, the strongest government barriers were broken and gunfire could easily be heard in downtown Mogadishu.

The newly affected

The greatest exodus from the newly affected areas was triggered.

Given that the residents of those northern districts had not experienced major changes, the rapid advances by the Islamists caused shockwaves. The only thing many people could do was to grab children, water containers and few other possessions.

Suddenly, other parts of Mogadishu still within the government 'green zone' like Shangani, Hamarweyne, Hamar Jabjab and Waberi districts were overcrowded by the displaced peoples. Thousands of families have been forced out of their homes in less than a week. "All I could think doing was to get hold of my three children, a couple of mattresses and 5-litre plastic container," remarked Dr Ali Mohammed Mohamud, a chemist running a private laboratory in Karaan district. "I asked other family members to follow me," said the chemist.

"I was very lucky to find relatives at Waberi district," he added. Dr Mohamud's extended family of nine members was cramped into a relatively spacious room. The facility, however, did not offer a normal life compared to the abandoned 4 bedroom house, TV sets with satellite decoder and receptive dishes.

For Dr Mohamud it was like moving from 21st century back to the 19th. "I did not have even time to pick my laptop," lamented the analyst. The Speaker of Somalia's Transitional Federal Parliament, Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur Madobe, held a hasty press conference in Mogadishu on 20th of June. He cried for the international community's help to salvage the TFG from Islamist takeover.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/200907160864.html.