Ethiopian-Somali forces descend on Mogadishu's main market
MOGADISHU (AFP) — Joint Ethiopian and Somali forces on Monday descended on Mogadishu's main market to search for weapons in a bid to stem an escalating insurgency in the capital, an official said.
The door-to-door search came a day after authorities shut the vast Bakara market, believed to be the hideout of Islamist-led rebels relentlessly attacking pro-government targets in recent days.
"Anybody who will be absent from his premises will be perceived to be hiding something. The operation will continue for a week," said Mogadishu's mayor, Mohamed Omar Habeb.
But traders maintained they hid no weapons in the sprawling market -- once an open-air arms bazaar -- but feared their businesses would be looted.
"I do not think there are weapons in the market, but let them check," said Ali Mohamed Siad, dean of Mogadishu traders. "We need the government to ensure the safety of our businesses."
Insurgents shelled positions near the presidential palace, Villa Somalia, late Sunday prompting artillery duels in the dangerous southern Mogadishu areas, where residents continued a stampede out of town. There were no reports of casualties.
Authorities on Sunday arrested officials from the dominant Hawiye in a bid to tighten the noose around those backing Islamist militants in the capital.
They took Hawiye spokesman Ahmed Diriye, his two sons and another elder.
"We are calling for their immediate release.... We do not know where they were arrested and they did nothing wrong," said Mohamed Hassan Haad, the head of the Hawiye clan.
According to estimates, at least 60 people, mostly civilians, were killed since Thursday in the worst clashes in Mogadishu since April, when Ethiopian troops wrested control of the city from Islamists who had briefly controlled large parts of the country.
Other sources spoke of a higher toll amid reports of hospitals crowded with wounded civilians.
Civilians have complained of indiscriminate shooting by Ethiopian forces, involved in their toughest crackdown against the insurgents. But the government says it is only targeting rebels.
The closure of Bakara market, a lifeline for Mogadishu dwellers, has disrupted trade in the city where violence has choked aid operations, according to residents.
Two weeks of clashes in Mogadishu had already displaced at least 90,000 people, according to the United Nations, worsening the humanitarian crisis that has blighted the nation for 16 years.
Areas just outside Mogadishu have struggled to cope with the latest influx of refugees.
The Shabelle region -- known as Somalia's breadbasket -- has suffered its worst crop in 13 years and aid agencies have warned of major food shortages that threaten the lives of thousands of children.
Relief workers have also said that the few people who have stayed behind in the worst-affected parts of Mogadishu are out of the relief net's reach and face dire conditions.
As clashes tear apart Mogadishu, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed is locked in talks to find a new prime minister following the resignation late last month of Ali Mohamed Gedi.
Gedi was accused of failing to defeat and rebuild the country that faces a mosaic of political, economic and cultural problems.
Bloody clan bickering and power struggles that intensified after 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre have scuppered numerous bids to stabilise the Horn of Africa nation.
