Somalia fighting kills 15…

By MOHAMED SHEIKH NOR

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP)

04/05/08

Islamic insurgents killed at least three Ethiopian soldiers during a gunfight in the Somali capital on Sunday, a witness said.

Mohamed Toshow said both sides exchanged fire after an attack on an Ethiopian water tanker in southern Mogadishu.

Ethiopian troops supporting the shaky U.N.-backed transitional government come under daily attack by Islamic insurgents, who receive support from Ethiopia’s archenemy Eritrea.

In an unrelated incident, inter-clan fighting in western Somalia killed at least 12 people and wounded at least 15 others during a land dispute, residents said Sunday.

Osman Enow, a resident in the town of Luq, said a dozen people had been killed when fighting broke out on Saturday night and that the wounded were being treated under trees because there were no hospitals in the area.

Mohamed Abdi Kalil, the deputy governor of Gedo region, where Luq is located, said,” The clash was triggered by a land dispute, but the ensuing escalation of violence was attributed to a long-simmering rivalry between the clans.”

“We are planning to send a group of elders from both warring sides to iron out the differences,” he added.

Disputes over land, water and pasture rights are common in Somalia, which has not had a functioning government since 1991. The current shaky administration is battling an Islamist insurgency, whose six-month hold on the capital and much of the south was smashed when Ethiopian forces arrived in December 2006 at the invitation of the Somali president.

The conflict in the impoverished country is complicated by clan rivalry and other countries using internal Somali forces as proxy militias.

Somalia elder arrested for denouncing extraditions to Ethiopia

4 May 4, 2008

GALKAYO, Somalia May 4 (Garowe Online) – A traditional elder in northern Somalia’s Puntland region was arrested by local police Sunday morning after giving an interview to the BBC yesterday, relatives said.

Abdalla Jama Jibril, an elder based in the Puntland town of Galkayo, was taken from his home by Puntland police and transported to an unknown location, his son told Garowe Online.

Ethiopian soldiers

During his interview with the BBC Somali Service, Mr. Jibril condemned the arbitrary arrests of several Somali civilians by Puntland authorities, some of whom were later extradited to Ethiopia. [ READ: Puntland extradites more Somali civilians to Ethiopian govt: Report]

Mohamed Adan Muse, chairman of the Galkayo-based Abdullahi Isse Human Rights group, has condemned Mr. Jibril’s arrest as a violation upon the right to speak freely.

The human rights group was also very critical of several civilians arrested by Puntland police for yet-unspecified reasons.

All the detained persons were unarmed civilians with clan ties to Ethiopia’s Ogaden region, which has an ethnically Somali population and has been wracked by armed conflict led by Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels since the 1990s.

Last month, two ONLF political officers were the first to be arrested in Puntland and later extradited to Ethiopia.

The government of Puntland denies the allegations, but a senior Puntland army commander reportedly told Puntland-based news agency Horseed Media that the regional government has nothing to do with the arrests.

Col. Abdishakur Abdullahi, the acting military commander in Mudug region where Galkayo is based, said Ethiopian security forces have the “permission” to conduct operations in “any part of Somalia,” according to a Horseed Media report.

The Ethiopian army invaded central and southern Somalia in December 2006 to oust Islamic Courts rulers from Mogadishu and install the weak interim government.

Ethiopia’s repressive government has been widely condemned for gross human rights violations and war crimes, including mass killings in Somalia perpetrated by the Ethiopian army.

Labour can recover, says Brown

BBC : o4/05/08

The prime minister has insisted Labour can recover from the heavy losses it sustained at the local elections.

Gordon Brown told BBC1’s Andrew Marr show he did not expect a challenge for his leadership, despite his party’s share of the vote falling to 24 per cent, its worst for 40 years.

“Of course we can recover from this position and I will tell you how,” he said.

“First of all by sorting out the immediate problem with the economy and showing people we can come through, as we have in the past, very difficult economic times.

“Secondly by showing people we have a vision of the future that will carry the country – optimistically in my view – into its next phase.

“That is all about chances, opportunities, a fair deal for working families, helping people get onto the first rung of the housing ladder, helping people get opportunity in education – more universities and more colleges – the big building block for the future that we are putting in place.”

He went on to say it was vital for the government to show voters it understood concerns about rising prices.

Acknowledging that people were worried about their standard of living, he said: “I feel the hurt they feel.”

Brown admitted he had made mistakes over the abolition of the 10p income tax rate, and in allowing speculation about a snap election last year continue for too long.

Asked if the elections meant his party was now the underdog of British politics, he said: “If we are the underdog, we are certainly fighting and we are fighting hard.

“We are standing up for people facing difficulties, standing up for what I believe – and what I believe is that opportunity for every citizen in this country should be greater than it is at the moment – standing up against a Conservative Party that looks like slick salesmen but actually doesn’t have the answers to the real challenges this country is facing.”

Djibouti Deports Eritrean Islamist Suspect

 

Geeska Afrika May 4th, 2008

04/05/08

Islamist who has been questioned in connection with the Ethiopian Railroad bombings near Dire dawa and was suspected of links to Al Qaeda East Africa Branch, a senior Djibouti Security official said without revealing his name.

Eritrea sent a special border officials to collect the Eritrean Suspects, who was detained in the Djiboutian capital on January 3rd this year. No further details were released from both Eritrea and Djibouti officialy.

Djibouti Government have questioned the Eritrean Suspect about phone calls reportedly made on his UAE GSM cell phone to some of the bombers responsible for the Ethiopian attacks that killed a number of people in both Dire dawa and Addis, including other Islamist militants trained in Eritrea.

An Eritrean police spokesman said he was not aware of any extradition proceedings against an Eritrean deported from Djibouti, an Eritrean citizen of Afar descent. It was not immediately clear whether he faces any charges in Eritrea and the police would not comment on that question.

The Geeska Afrika Magazine reports, citing security sources, have said that Djibouti investigators do not believe they were linked to the Addis attacks last month.

According to the real able sources in Djibouti, both Djibouti and Ethiopian security forces have also interrogated other suspects in Djibouti, according to the Ethiopian Antiterrorism officials.

Ethiopian antiterrorism and federal police said intelligence agents followed the Eritreans to Djibouti after they entered the country from Somalia on January and arrested them at a Mosque in Balbala, Djibouti on charges of violating immigration and border laws.

Before they were detained in Djibouti, The Eritreans were in Mogadishu, Somalia. Djibouti officials also said the Eritreans made frequent trips to Ethiopia and Sudan.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Minister of Ethiopia called on the UN Security Council to do more than just condemn Eritrea for continued obstructions that forced its UN peace monitoring mission to temporarily relocate.

“Appeasing Eritrea has never worked. Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa including Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan expect more from the Security Council if it is to be taken seriously as a bulwark for international peace and security,” The Federal foreign minister of Ethiopia said in a statement.

Sources: Geeska Afrika Magazine, HAN staff Reporter In Djibouti

AU Urges Djibouti, Eritrea To Show Restraint

 
 

Sat, 03 May 2008

The African Union(AU) has urged Horn of Africa rivals Djibouti and Eritrea to show restraint as they seek to resolve a border crisis. The two nations have been at odds for nearly two weeks since Djibouti accused Eritrean forces of digging trenches on both sides of the border, with the Eritreans infringing on several hundred meters of Djiboutian territory.

Asmara rejected the claims, sparking a stand-off.

“(The) Peace and Security Council urged both countries to show maximum restraint and to resolve whatever dispute they may have through dialogue,” the AU said in statement.

Djibouti and Eritrea have clashed twice over the border area situated at the southern end of Red Sea.

In April 1996 they almost went to war after a Djibouti official accused Asmara of shelling the town of Ras Doumeira.

And in 1999, Eritrea accused Djibouti of siding with Asmara’s arch-foe Ethiopia while Djibouti alleged its neighbour was

 

 

 Doumeira region, which Eritrea denied. press TV