From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Thu Sep 18 2008 - 05:55:27 EDT
Somalia: After Al Shabaab Threat, 'Secret Talks' to Reopen Mogadishu Airport
Garowe Online (Garowe)
18 September 2008
Somalia's Islamist al Shabaab insurgent group issued a public threat earlier this week, warning that the capital Mogadishu's Aden Adde International Airport will not work after September 16.
No planes have landed at the airport since Monday, airport employees told Garowe Online.
Secret talks at Mogadishu' s Bakara market between Islamic Courts officers, local business leaders, airline company officials and al Shabaab fighters, reliable sources said.
The talks are aimed at convincing al Shabaab not to attack commercial airplanes landing at the airport, which is guarded by African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeepers.
"Our planes cannot land at the airport," said an airline industry source who did not want to be named. But he declined to explain whether or not airline companies are worried about a possible al Shabaab attack.
Somali government officials have maintained that Aden Adde International Airport is open for business, but AMISOM spokesman Major Barigye Bahoku confirmed to reporters that no commercial airplanes have landed in the past two days.
Several people were killed in insurgent attacks in Mogadishu since Tuesday night, witnesses and officials said.
The violence raged across three districts in Mogadishu, including the relatively quiet Kaaraan district and the violence-ridden district of Yaaqshiid.
Abdullahi Mohamed Roble, Kaaraan's district commissioner, said the attack on his home and the local police station was "organized by clan militia."
"Are there any Ethiopian soldiers here [in Kaaraan] or are some groups against the peace here [in Kaaraan]?" Mr. Roble said in comments to the media.
Islamic Courts spokesman Abdirahim Isse Addow claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they killed a few soldiers who had "set up illegal roadblocks" in Kaaraan.
In a separate attack, al Shabaab fighters attacked a police station and claimed to have killed six soldiers and lost two fighters during the battle.
Somali military officials rejected the claims, arguing that the troops defended themselves against the insurgent attack.
Witnesses told Garowe Online that two children died when a shell hit their home and a lso wounded their two parents.
Somalia's Ethiopian-backed interim government is in a peace process with an Islamist-led opposition group named the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS).
But al Shabaab insurgents have rejected the ongoing peace process, which is currently continuing in Djibouti where government and opposition leaders are present. [ Full story]
Nearly 9,500 people have been killed in Somalia since the Ethiopian invasion of December 2006, according to a local human rights group.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----