Thursday, May 10, 2007
The weapons, which were buried, included 106 anti-tank mines, 48 rocket-propelled grenades, 460 hand grenades and other small arms, said Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the Ugandan troops acting as peacekeepers in Mogadishu.
``Our troops have found and seized huge number of weapons buried under the ground, following civilian information passed to them,'' Ankunda said.
The African Union peacekeepers started to patrol the streets of Mogadishu earlier this month after having been largely confined to their stations at the airport as the city endured some of the worst fighting in 15 years. In late April, the government and its Ethiopian backers launched a crackdown that saw hundreds killed and ended with the government declaring victory over an Islamic insurgency.
Ankunda said a former insurgent passed the information to the African peacekeepers, who then sought the assistance of the government troops and their Ethiopian backers. Uganda has about 1,400 troops in Somalia as the vanguard of a larger African Union peacekeeping force.
So far, Uganda is the only country to contribute to the peacekeeping force. The peacekeepers were met with a surge of violence when they began deploying in Somalia's capital in March, and had initially kept a low profile.
Witnesses said Ugandan troops backed by Somali and Ethiopian forces conducted search operations in the south of city, where most of the fighting between Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian and Somali troops was concentrated. Ankunda said 150 peacekeepers armed with 16 armored military vehicles participated in the operation.
``The troops have cordoned off the entire area just before dawn and then targeted particular houses, where they discovered weapons,'' said resident Mohamed Idle Ibrahim.
Hours later, a woman was killed and another wounded in the city's busiest Bakaara market when a masked man hurled a hand grenade. At the time, government troops were demolishing vendors' stalls that have been deemed illegal. Ali Kheyre Abdulle, who owns a shoe shop in the market, said it appeared the grenade was meant for the government troops.
Mohamed Dheere, a former warlord who is now mayor, said the campaign of demolishing the stalls and kiosks was aimed at restoring order and making it easier for police to patrol the capital.
Mogadishu has been relatively quiet since April 26, but it is not clear how long this calm will last, because extremist Islamic leaders have vowed their forces will rise up again. The violence was also spurred by a struggle for power among Somali clans, who appear appeased by recent moves to include them in the city's administration.
With the crucial aid of troops from neighboring Ethiopia, Somali forces ousted a militant Islamic group known as the Council of Islamic Courts over the New Year. But the group promised to launch an Iraq-style insurgency, and the capital endured weeks of artillery battles and shelling.
Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then began battling each other. The current government was established in 2004, but has failed to assert full control.
On Monday, a land mine set off by remote control injured five policemen in a pickup truck in the southern part of Mogadishu. It was the first such attack in the city since the fragile government declared victory over the insurgents.
Source: AP, May 10, 2007