Ahlu Sunna Clerics Denounces TFG for Deadly Shelling in Mogadishu

The Islamist clerics of Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a have denounced the transitional government for the responsibility of yesterday's deadly shelling that left the lives of more people in the capital, official told Shabelle radio on Monday.

Heavy shelling targeted to Bakara market had killed more and injured many innocent civilians as the shellfire continued yesterday afternoon.

Sheik Abdullahi Sheik Abdirahman (Abu Yusuf), head of the information of the clerics who is in Mogadishu had talked more on the shelling saying that the responsibility would take by the transitional government of Somalia.

"The first or second step of talks with the government will be to decrease the dying people, the shelling, because what is going on can not be tolerated. And the remained innocent civilians can not bear the heavy shelling," said Sheik Abu Yusuf

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Human rights watch urges upcoming meeting to end Somali conflict

A global rights group on Wednesday called on participants to this week's international meeting on Somalia to press for an immediate end to abuses against civilians by militia and authorities in the East African nation.

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the intervention of foreign governments in Somalia, including some represented in the contact group, has often proved counterproductive to promoting the security of civilians.
"The Cairo meeting is an important opportunity for the key international players to begin to fix their broken policies on Somalia," said Georgette Gagnon, HRW Africa director.

"The place to start is to support an international commission of inquiry into abuses by all sides," Gagnon said. She said abuses by Somalia's transitional government, African Union forces, and armed opposition groups should be stopped.

The International Contact Group, which brings together governments and intergovernmental institutions including the United States, European states, the African Union, the Arab League, and the United Nations to coordinate policy on Somalia, will meet on April 21-22 in Cairo, Egypt.

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Kenyan official warns over political infighting in Somalia

A Kenyan assistant minister warns that the current political squabbling in Somalia parliament would lead to collapse of the fragile Un-backed Somali government if not addressed urgently.

Aden Barre Duale, Kenya's assistant minister for livestock, has called on the top leadership of the Somali TFG to take control of the situation and help mediate between the feuding political opponents in the parliament.

"The TFG leaders should urgently intervene between lawmakers to stop the dispute, if they fail to do so, then the government would certainly collapse," he said

"The lawmakers should go back to the law, because arguing about the expiry of the term of the parliament would not be a good idea. It is best for them to go back to the law that they set, and follow it," he added.

Duale said Kenya, like any other Somalia’s friend, would play its role in making sure that the current transition administration would not be another failed attempt to bring peace and stability to the war-torn country.

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Harsh War, Harsh Peace Abuses by al-Shabaab, the Transitional Federal Government, and AMISOM in Somalia

Somalia remains mired in a brutal conflict between the Transitional Federal Government
(TFG), which holds only a sliver of the capital, Mogadishu, and armed opposition groups that
control most of the country. Over the past year hostilities have raged in strategicallyjavascript:void(0)
important areas, including Mogadishu, while much of the rest of Somalia has enjoyed
relative peace.
Both the inhabitants of the shattered capital and those living in more peaceful areas have
endured devastating patterns of abuse. In much of the south, which is largely controlled by
the armed Islamist group al-Shabaab, the population is subject to targeted killings and
assaults, repressive forms of social control, and brutal punishments under its draconian
interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law). Meanwhile, in Mogadishu, mortars fired by al-Shabaab
and African Union troops deployed to protect the internationally-backed TFG continue to kill
civilians and ravage the city. All sides have violated the laws of war by conducting
indiscriminate attacks and other abuses.

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