Somalia is seeking an agreement to end the violence that has gripped the country for nearly two years. But some Islamist groups vow they will continue to fight regardless.
By THE MEDIA LINE NEWS AGENCY/ABDINASIR MOHAMED GULEDsomalia fighter 298.88(photo credit: AP)
After 18 years of violence and anarchy, Somalia is now entering deep and uncharted political waters, as Somalia's warring sides make matters worse for millions of its people, who are facing severe humanitarian conditions.
Somali insurgents are intensifying efforts to seize towns from government troops, with Iraqi-style hit-and-run attacks against government backers.
Mogadishu is the hot bed for the insurgency by the Islamists, with civilians suffering the most casualties.
"We'll never cease fighting, until the foreign forces leave our country," Islamist A-Shabab spokesman, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Man'sour, told reporters in the capital, in his first public appearance since the insurgency intensified over the past six months.
On Sunday Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Islamist groups agreed on an accord, which calls for a cease-fire to go into effect on November 5, and for Ethiopia's withdrawal to begin on November 21.
But the cease-fire agreement seems to have had no impact on the ground, as the chaotic situation appears unchanged, while the Islamists appear to be expecting to regain full control of the country.
The two main Islamist groups, Islamic Courts and A-Shabab, are approaching the fighting with separate strategies, although they have similar views on the battle against the foreign troops in the country and the TFG.
As these two Jihadist groups continue to step up their insurgency, other Islamist groups have appeared, such as Khalid Binwalid, Islamic Guerillas and the Raskamboni Brigades.
Every religious sect has its own leader, with its own fighters and strategies.
"We have one aim, that of fighting against the enemies of Allah and Islam," Abu Man'sour said in a telephone interview with The Media Line (TML) from an undisclosed location.
He admitted that his group had foreign fighters in their ranks.
"Muslims are Muslims; we have white mujahidin (foreigners) and we will put them on display for the media," Abu Man'sour said.
"I will die for my religion," says 17-year-old Islamic Courts fighter Muhammad Sheikh Hassan. "My family is proud of me because I am fighting for my country. [But] I do not want to continue fighting forever. I want to stop it when the infidel occupiers leave our country."
Most of Somalia's towns are now under Islamist control as analysts describe that it was simple for Islamists to seize towns as they received huge support from the residents.
"They wouldn't capture any town lacking the support of the people," Somali political analyst Muhammad Haji said in an interview with TML by phone from Sweden.
Driving around the area over several days I never saw any acts of robbery in the Islamist strongholds. Robbers are arrested, placed in detention and given severe punishments.
However, driving on streets controlled by government troops, I observed people hiding their mobile phones in their clothes from the soldiers who have been accused by Mogadishu residents of serious acts of theft from the city's residents.
The KM4 roundabout, not far from the airport, used to be one of the busiest streets in Mogadishu, but now it is quiet, as troops from AU peacekeepers have been deployed there since the Mujahidin Islamists increased their attacks on the AU peacekeeping forces, known as AMISOM, which are based in specific areas in the war-devastated city.
The latest attacks have forced to AU to increase the number of troops defending their bases from the emboldened Islamists.
"I have to expect an attack any time; I have to be on standby for fighting our attackers," an AU soldier, who requested anonymity, told TML by phone.
Attacks on AMISOM positions have increased in recent weeks as insurgents vowed that they wouldn't stop the attacks against these troops, describing them as "occupiers" and infidels.
When AU troop officials were asked about the number of their troops deployed in Mogadishu, they refused to give exact numbers, but reliable sources told TML that there are more than 3,500 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi in Mogadishu.
"We are soldiers for peacekeeping, who have to respect the independence and sovereignty of this country," says Clement Cimana, commander of the Burundian peacekeeping troops in Mogadishu.
On the other hand, Gen. Frances Okello, commander of the Ugandan peacekeeping forces says, "If we are attacked we will never hold back."
Reports claim that the Ugandans have lost up to five soldiers in consecutive attacks during the holy month of Ramadan; their officials, however, put the death toll at three.
"I have to hold my eye to the whiz-mirror of my gun at all times to guard myself from the attackers," an AMISOM soldier, who refused to reveal his name, told TML while sitting in a sandstone trench at the KM4 intersection.
Roadside bombs are hidden on the street, with explosions occurring about once a week.
Last month at least 450 new Burundian soldiers arrived in Mogadishu after their colleagues came under consecutive attacks from the Islamists.
The newly arrived troops are different from the earlier soldiers in that they seem to have new information from their superiors on the situation in Somalia and are on high alert.
"There are men who want to kill us, but I will never remove my finger from my gun's trigger; I will kill them before they kill me," says a Burundian soldier, calling himself Kanu.
Kanu is 33 years old, supporting three children on his take-home pay. But since his deployment in Somalia his family's livelihood has changed as he now brings in more than he used to receive when he was working in Uganda.
As he speaks to me he is giving most of his attention to the entrance of his army base against the possibility of Islamist attack.
Nearly all of the Burundian soldiers have committed to memory the attack of April 8, 2008, when a suicide car bomb hit their army base and some of their colleagues were killed.
The attack - one of the most serious against the AU force in Somalia to date - targeted a base housing mainly Burundian peacekeepers. Islamist insurgents claimed responsibility.
The promise of an attack by the insurgents against the AU troops has caused these soldiers to be wary.
"During Ramadan we were attacked by armed men. I was one of the door guards on that night; I opened fire even though I couldn't see where I was firing because it was too dark. Fortunately, I survived," Kanu relates.
He admits homesickness is a constant companion while he is in Africa.
He wants to talk about the similarities of the situation in Somalia to Uganda's history, and his own record as a career soldier, which had him fighting LRA guerillas on the frontline in Uganda's shrub areas.
"The situation is very complicated. It is a conflict with suicide attacks and many causes," Kanu says.
Sunrise is a good time, he says, before the scorching heat begins to make the ground shimmer with mirage. Sunrise reminds him of home.
"When that light comes in the early part of the day, then I can look out and almost pretend I am in Uganda.
"The Somalis are sometimes hard to make friends with, because they have a different culture, religion and tradition and they have been at war so long. But the country is beautiful and sometimes it looks like home."
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