Post by Tulameen on Jul 12, 2006 10:21:12 GMT -5
Islamists hail success as turning point
MOGADISHU, Somalia (Reuters) -- One of Mogadishu's last holdout warlords surrendered to powerful Islamists after losing most of his territory in two days of fighting that killed more than 140 people, militia sources said on Tuesday.
"It has become necessary to surrender and give peace a chance," a militiaman loyal to warlord Abdi Awale Qaybdiid told Reuters.
Qaybdiid is the last of an alliance of U.S.-backed warlords who called themselves an anti-terrorism group. He kept fighting after the Islamists routed the other warlords and seized the Somali capital last month.
Displaying weapons seized from Qaybdiid, the Islamists said their victory was a turning point for Mogadishu -- one of the world's most dangerous cities -- and called on remaining rival fighters to surrender.
"From today onwards, we promise the world that this city is safe," moderate Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said.
"We need to overcome tribalism and the Somali enemies. There are so many enemies and in order to defend ourselves against them we need to unite."
The Islamists, trying to take complete control of Mogadishu, ambushed Qaybdiid's fighters and those loyal to Interior Minister Hussein Aideed, a deputy prime minister in the weak interim government, on Sunday.
The fighting with heavy artillery, mortars and machine guns killed at least 140 people, and hospital sources expected the toll to rise.
"Approximately 140 people have died and 150 others were injured. It was a very heavy exchange with most of the people dying outside of hospital," Ali Moallim, a senior administrator at Madina hospital, told Reuters.
"To kill your brother is not victory," said Maimuna Farah, a Mogadishu resident, speaking near the hospital.
'Glad it's over'
Militia sources said Qaybdiid agreed to hand over his weapons after talks between the Islamists and elders from the warlord's sub-subclan. Scores of his fighters did the same.
"When I saw that we will end like this, I decided to switch over in order to save my life," said Abdullahi Abdi, a former Qaybdiid fighter.
Qaybdiid's allies would not discuss his whereabouts.
Scores of curious Somalis visited the site of the fierce gun battles on Tuesday.
"We came to see what happened here and see family members who were caught in the fighting," Abdi Omar, 22, said. "I am glad it's all over now. They shelled so many houses."
Witnesses said Qaybdiid's surrender meant the Islamists now control nearly all of Mogadishu except for a small area near the presidential palace, which is overseen by Aideed's fighters.
"Mogadishu has fallen to the Islamists except the Villa Somalia," Aideed aide Mohamed Abdilahi said, adding that the building could be the Islamists' next target.
Aideed is based in Baidoa but his militia guard the Villa Somalia, the residence of past presidents until Aideed's father and other warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and ushered in an era of anarchy.
The Islamists, headed by hardline cleric Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, went on after capturing Mogadishu on June 5 to take other towns across a swathe of southern Somalia.
That has challenged the slim authority of the internationally backed interim government, formed at peace talks in Kenya in 2004 and based in Baidoa because it is too weak to go to Mogadishu.
Tension between the two sides has arisen over the issue of foreign peacekeepers, which the government wants to help it establish its authority and the Islamists have refused.
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