By Yassin Ismail, Kent, UK 

Heavy fighting resumes in Mogadishu between the Ethiopian troops backing the week Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia and insurgents belonging to the powerful Hawiye clan after two weeks of relative calm following a truce signed between Ethiopian military generals and Hawiye clan elders.

At least 32 civilians have been killed so far and scores injured in the renewed fighting for the third day running as Ethiopian troops once again bombarded the city indiscriminately using sophisticated missiles and artillery barrage on civilian populated areas. A reporter for the BBC based in Mogadishu confirmed Ethiopian artillery shelling hitting heavily populated areas further afield the battle grounds where the two belligerent sides are fighting each other. Civilians casualties have been reported from different parts of the city, including eight children playing football as well as women and children. Destruction on civilian properties are also devastating.

Humanitarian organizations operating in Somalia as well as independent journalists on the ground have confirmed the Ethiopian artillery bombardment is indiscriminate. The Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu do not seem to be taking the necessary appropriate cautions to avoid civilian casualties. In fact, the opposite is true.   The situation is very murky and often those who are on the receiving end of this random artillery barrage have very little voice and due to the restriction in place no media report can shed light to the suffering of these people.

But for the TFG and the Ethiopians that is how it was suppose to be. As one former officer of the TFG put it both the TFG and Ethiopians have devised ‘a screams to be heard strategy' to ensure the international community does not get alarmed by the gravity of civilian suffering.

The United Nations have warned looming humanitarian crisis in Somalia as the TFG imposed restrictions on Aid Agencies trying to help those who were displaced by the war.

Eric Laroche told at a news briefing that ‘Cholera has struck hundreds in the Somali capital in the past month, and the worst fighting in a decade and the detention of aid workers have made it impossible to reach U.N. warehouses or land at the city airport"

Only 2 weeks ago, nearly 1, 000 Somali civilians, including women and children have been killed in Mogadishu following a four day of heavy fighting between the Ethiopian troops supporting the TFG and the Hawiye militia resistance, in what the observers described the worst fighting in Somali for 16 years.

The fighting also internally displaced more than 300, 000 innocent civilians and forced almost 32, 000 others into refugee as they fled their homes due to the indiscriminate shelling of Ethiopians troops on many heavily populated areas of the capital using helicopter gunships and sophisticated artillery barrages.

The scale and the magnitude of the bombardment as well as the indiscriminate nature of Ethiopia's artillery shelling angered Somalis far and allegations of war crimes by the Ethiopian troops and the TFG have emerged, which could also implicate the EU, USA and members of the IGAD countries as complicit to crimes committed against civilians for their respective roles in supporting the war.

Efforts are already underway in Europe to press for full investigation into the alleged war crimes. Prominent members of the Somali community in Europe and North America held two days conference in Leicester University to discuss the crisis and Action Committee were appointed to give headway to the investigation.

And this week, the Speaker of Parliament and handful of MPs along with TFG's Deputy Prime Minister, Hussein Aideed and the Executive Chair of the defeated Union Islamic Courts held press conference in Asmara in which they accused Ethiopia of war crimes and demanded end to killing of civilians. In addition, they called on the International Community to put pressure on Ethiopia to withdraw their troops from Somalia unconditionally whilst urging those responsible for the alleged war crimes to be brought to justice to account for their actions.  

The Hawiye clan leaders claimed the indiscriminate killing of their civilians is a vengeful retaliation by Abdillahi Yusuf's predominantly Darod backed TFG Government with the military support of Ethiopia and the financial and political backing of the USA.

The Hawiye and Darod clans have history of violent confrontation since the outbreak of the Somali civil war in 1991.

The president of the TFG, Mr. Abdillahi Yusuf, a Darod military man renowned for his violent ways who prior to becoming a president vowed to ‘wipe out' the Hawiye from existence and threatened ‘to pour them into the Indian ocean' the Hawiye have genuine reasons to fear genocide of a greater scale. The recent indiscriminate massacre of the civilians simply prove the widely felt fear A. Yusuf is what he said he would do, - ‘to wipe them out the Hawiye."

This fear of revenge was further given credibility by the fact that despite international condemnation of civilian killings and the possibility of war crimes, both Mr. Yusuf and Melez Zinawi said they would carry on the current onslaught.  

Email: yassinismail@aol.com