Somali Insurgents Drag Dead Ethiopians In Streets

MOGADISHU, Nov. 08, 2007 – Somali insurgents dragged the bodies of dead Ethiopian soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu on Thursday, amid fighting that killed at least 21 people and sparked a further exodus from the lawless city.

Witnesses said at least three Ethiopian soldiers, who are backing the interim Somali government, were killed during battles in the Sqa Holaha neighborhood in northern Mogadishu.

"I saw three Ethiopian troops killed by insurgents. Crowds of people were chanting 'God is great' and dragging their bodies on the ground," resident Deqo Ali told Reuters.

Later, fighting in the northern neighborhood of Hodan -- where insurgents regularly hit government targets -- killed at least 18 people and wounded many more in fierce combat during which Ethiopians tanks fired into the area, witnesses said.

"I saw seven dead Ethiopian soldiers and 11 Somalis who were killed in fighting, and many more people who were wounded and not taken to the hospital because it was too dark," resident Omar Ahmed told Reuters.

At Mogadishu's main hospital Madina, medical officer Dahir Dheere said doctors had treated more than 20 wounded people.

The grisly scenes of dead soldiers dragged through the streets recalled the 1993 shooting down of two Black Hawk helicopters by Somali militiamen during a failed U.S. operation to hunt down warlords in Mogadishu.

Images of dead Americans dragged through the streets by joyous Somalis deeply shocked U.S. public opinion, precipitating American withdrawal and contributing to the ending of the U.N. peacekeeping operation in 1995.

Ethiopian corpses were also dragged through Mogadishu in March, during offensives against insurgent strongholds in which hundreds died.

THOUSANDS FLEE

Fighting in Mogadishu this year has sent hundreds of thousands fleeing the city and made aid delivery next to impossible in the capital.

Many ordinary Somalis and insurgents drawn mainly from a militant Islamist movement that ruled Mogadishu briefly last year, resent the presence of their ancient enemy Ethiopia and often carry out violent protests against its troops.

Hundreds of residents burned tyres and poured into the streets of southern Mogadishu on Wednesday to protest against the Ethiopians, who helped the government seize the city last year and are essential to retaining control.

In the south-central town of Baidoa, where the Somali parliament still sits, the United Nations country head urged legislators on Thursday to move quickly to stem the humanitarian crisis.

"I want to be clear here today that 1.5 million Somalis are in need of emergency aid. And the number of people that have been displaced goes up to 850,000," U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia Eric Laroche told parliament.

"We have to be able to help them and we have a problem reaching them."

Parliament's main order of business will be approving a new prime minister to succeed Ali Mohamed Gedi, who resigned last week after a feud with the president.

President Abdillahi Yusuf told parliament, which has approved a legal change allowing non-legislators to serve as prime minister and cabinet ministers, that he would work quickly to find a replacement.

"We now have a challenge to nominate a prime minister, which I promise I will do by consulting with you," Yusuf said in parliament, before flying to Nairobi later on Thursday.

Neither he nor his allies have said whom they are considering.

Source: Reuters

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