12 May 2009

Somalia — Somalia's president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed has talked about the fighting in Mogadishu for the first time on Monday.

The president held a press conference in the presidential palace in Mogadishu and said that his government was making peace efforts to avoid any more violence in the capital.

The president said there were people who made the wars in Mogadishu as career but the government was trying its best to avoid more bloodshed.

"We tell the Somali people that the government is making efforts to stop the fighting and work for the interest of the people, but unfortunately people who made the wars career and do not want a government are wrecking havoc in the country," president Sheik Sharif said.

He also said that the government will defend its existence. The president talked about opposition groups who negotiated with the government but he said the rebel side failed to continue the negotiation.

Sporadic Fighting in Parts of Mogadishu

Sporadic fighting between government soldiers and Islamists is going on in parts of Mogadishu, witnesses told Shabelle Media on Monday.

The sound of gun fire could be heard in Wardhigley, Yaqshid and Hodan districts in Mogadishu. Reports say that government soldiers have also exchanged gun fire near the presidential palace.

Jalle Siyad Academy, a base of Burunidan troops from African Union troops was attacked on Monday morning. No casualty has been reported yet.

Government soldiers and Islamist rebels have also exchanged gun fire in Fagah intersection in Yaqshid district in the north of the city.

The exchange of gun fire between the soldiers of the government and Islamists against it comes after a day that the rebels took control of large areas in the capital.

Farhan Ali Mohamud, the information minister of the Somali government has said in a press conference he held in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Sunday that bases of the transitional government were attacked by what he called anti-peace groups.

Mr. Farhan said that groups against the Somali government attacked several bases of the transitional government in the past 48 hours denying that there were any government controlled places captured in the fighting.

The information minister accused the opposition groups of being behind the attacks against the government soldiers and described them that they are people who don't want peace and to rule the country with Sharia law adding that there were foreigners who involved the fighting in Mogadishu.

"We could respond the assaults but we were respecting the Somali people and the civilians. The places that they are claiming they captured are the places where the civilians lived and there are no casualties reached our side or the government soldiers," Mr. Farhan said.

The statement of the information minister of the Somali government Mr. Farhan Ali comes after four days of heavy fighting that killed more than 50 people in Mogadishu and it is the first time that the Somali government talks the fighting since the fighting began.