Saturday, April 28, 2007

"The government forces with the support of the Ethiopian troops have completed the operations against the terrorist groups in Mogadishu and they have accomplished their mission," Yusuf told a press conference at the presidential palace.

"We call on the people who fled their houses to get back and maintain their normal life."

Ethiopian forces have been battling Islamist fighters and clan militia since the beginning of the year, when they backed Somali government soldiers to oust an Islamist movement from the capital and other areas in the Horn of Africa nation.

But remnant Islamists put up stiff resistance, prompting an upsurge in violence which killed hundreds of civilians and prompted an estimated 400,000 people - according to the United Nations - to flee.

The fighting was some of the heaviest since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre exploded into a bloody power struggle in a country that has defied repeated attempts to restore stability.

Hundreds of displaced residents trooped back to Mogadishu on Saturday to inspect their houses, many of which were destroyed by heavy shelling in nine days of fighting that died down on Thursday when the joint Ethiopia-Somali forces seized insurgents strongholds in northern Mogadishu.

"I visited my house this morning and saw Ethiopian soldiers inside. Some of them were sleeping and others sitting on my veranda," said Muhubo Ali Diriye, a resident of Mogadishu's northern Towfiq district.

"They allowed me to get in the rooms and check how things are," she told AFP.

An elder in Towfiq, Sheikh Hassan Dubad said the fighting had been the worst he had ever seen.

"The worst shelling took place in our neighbourhood and we don't know who we can ask to give us compensation," said Sheikh Hassan, whose house was destroyed by fire.

"I saw my house for the first time in nine days, but I could not tell whether it was my house because it was demolished by artillery shells," said Yusuf Gure Yare, another resident.

Government forces patrolled the streets and searched residents who were returning, an AFP correspondent and residents said.

"The Ethiopian forces are checking anybody walking on the street, but we can reach our houses today for the first time and no one is stopping us," said Wiliyo Ali Ga'al, a mother of two.

Source: AFP, April 28, 2007