Airborne Combat Engineer

Islamics beat down in Somalia

Some 565 people have been wounded during four days of heavy fighting. Ethiopian troops used tanks and attack helicopters in an offensive to crush insurgents linked to an Islamic group driven from power in December.

The dominant clan in Somalia's capital held talks with the Ethiopian military in a bid to prevent further bloodshed in Mogadishu, which remained calm for a second day Tuesday.

[SD, WaPo]

The leader of the executive council of the ousted Islamic Courts Union who is now in Doha, Qatar has spoken out the conflict in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia overnight.             

In an interview with the Arabic Satellite TV, Al-Jazeera, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed [leader of the executive council of the ousted Islamic Courts Union who is now in Doha, Qatar] dismissed the existence of the interim government.

[Shabelle]

SS @ Frontpage believes the US should do more to help the good guys win on this front in the War on Terror, where an insurgency lead by the Islamic Courts Union prevents peace.

Insurgents ambush peacekeepers in Somalia

Insurgents on Wednesday ambushed a convoy of African Union peacekeepers sent to help stabilize Somalia's violent capital, setting off a gunfight that killed at least 10 civilians, witnesses and a hospital official said.

[Washington Post]

Strategy Page has more on recent events.

Mortar fire greets peacekeepers in Somalia

Mortar fire and heavy fighting erupted around Mogadishu's airport Tuesday during a welcoming ceremony as Ugandan peacekeepers arrived in the Somali capital, according to witnesses at the scene.

[CNN]

The Islamics promised an insurgency against the peacekeeping forces.

Pirates hijack another UN relief ship

Pirates have hijacked a United Nations-chartered ship with its 12-member crew off the coast of Somalia shortly after it unloaded 1,800 metric tonnes of food aid and equipment.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) "is highly concerned about the safety of crew members and the vessel," Peter Goossens, the agency's Country Director for Somalia said of Sunday's seizure of the MV Rozen.

This was fourth such incident involving UN supply vessels off the East African country's coast in 20 months.

"Such acts of piracy might undermine the delivery of relief food to vulnerable people in Somalia and could further worsen the prevailing precarious humanitarian situation."

[The Hindu]

Peacekeeping soon in Somalia

Uganda has signed a memorandum of understanding with the African Union (AU) about the UPDF deployment in Somalia as tanks were seen driven through the streets of Kampala yesterday on their way to Mogadishu.

The over-all AU force, comprising also of Nigerian, Burundian, Ghanaian and Malawian troops, is commanded by a Ugandan, Maj. Gen Levi Karuhanga.

The Islamists who survived scattered back to their clan areas and have vowed to fight an insurgency against the government and the planned 8,000-strong AU peacekeeping force.

[Shabelle, 24FEB07]

Politically, TFG President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed also took "a great step" in the right direction in organizing a political conference of 3,000 clan leaders from around the country.

[All Africa, 24FEB07]

Task Force 88 in Somalia

The U.S. military quietly waged a campaign from Ethiopia last month to capture or kill top leaders of al-Qaida in the Horn of Africa, including the use of an airstrip in eastern Ethiopia to mount airstrikes against Islamic militants in neighboring Somalia, according to U.S. officials.

The close and largely clandestine relationship with Ethiopia included significant sharing of intelligence on Islamic militants' positions and information from U.S. spy satellites with the Ethiopian military. Members of a secret U.S. Special Operations unit, Task Force 88, were deployed in Ethiopia and Kenya, and went into Somalia, the officials said.

[NY Times]

Somalia update, Sat 17FEB07

Some 500 residents of Somalia's capital Mogadishu are reported to have fled their homes as more mortar attacks rocked the city claiming the lives of innocent residents.

Prime Minister of the interim government, Ali Mohamd Gedi - on his way to France to attend an African Summit - told journalists that the attacks were being carried out almost exclusively by supporters of the defeated Islamic Courts Union.

[AllAfrica, 17FEB07]

Other African countries are still mulling the matter over.

Uganda is reportedly preparing to send its first batch of peace-keeping troops to Somalia as early as today.

[AllAfrica, 17FEB07]

The United States government is seeking an additional 60 million U.S. dollars from Congress to fund the 8,000 peacekeeping force and development efforts in the war ravaged Somalia, a U.S. official said here Friday.                           

U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger said the funds would be in addition to 40 million dollars pledged last month to support Somalia's efforts to restore stability in the Horn of African nation.

It is also providing 26 million dollars for development and humanitarian efforts in Somalia.

[Shabelle.net]

The US is funding peacekeeping forces, not sending any of its own.

Help finally on the way to Somalia

Uganda is reportedly preparing to send its first group of peacekeeping troops to Somalia as early as Saturday. The deployment comes amid U.N. warnings that rising chaos and violence in that country could undermine the African Union's peacekeeping mission even before it gets under way.

[AllAfrica.com, 16FEB07]

Ethiopians to be out of Somalia by mid-Feb

The last Ethiopian soldier will leave Somalia by mid February, the Ethiopian government has said urging all African nations who pledged forces for Somalia peacekeeping mission do so before Ethiopia completes its troop withdrawal form Somalia. [SomaliaNet, 02FEB07]

Five African nations have so far pledged troops to Somalia and these include Uganda, Nigeria, Malawi Burundi and Ghana. Others have promised reconstruction and logistical asssista
[BA, Somalianet, 03FEBThe UN Security Council plans to send a technical mission to study the situation. [RxPG News, 03FEB07]

Somalia update, Friday 02FEB07

At least 8 mortar shells launched from unknown locations inside the Somali capital Mogadishu hit parts of the international seaport Thursday night, according to residents.

 

The mortar attack reportedly targeted Somali and Ethiopian soldiers based at the seaport.

"It must be the Islamist remnants ... These people want to turn Somalia into another Iraq," said an unidentified source.

 

It was one of a series of attacks in different parts of Mogadishu, signaling that violence continued to rise in the capital even as President Abdullahi Yusuf vowed to restore order “by force.”

 

Yusuf said African Union peacekeepers would arrive in Somalia within the next two weeks. The AU Summit in Ethiopia ended last week with the African body falling short of providing an 8,000-strong peacekeeping force needed for Somalia.

[Garowe Online, 01FEB07] [Alaska Report, 01FEB07]

The next couple of weeks are going to be critical.