Sunday, July 12, 2009
The peacekeepers were drawn into Saturday's fighting by a direct threat to their positions, as the insurgents advanced into north Mogadishu, African Union spokesman Bahoku Barigye said.
The action does not mean the AU is or will be fully involved in the combat, he said.
"Our troops were in an imminent danger, so we had to take some limited action."
Mogadishu's deputy mayor, Abdifitah Shawey, said the AU was forced to intervene after the insurgents fought their way to just over half a kilometre from the presidential palace.
Shawey said three government soldiers died and a higher but unspecified number of insurgents were killed.
Government commander Salad Ali Jelleh said there had been fierce fighting as the Islamists advanced into the city in the early hours, but they scattered when government and AU forces counterattacked.
There has been heavy fighting in the capital since Friday's expiration of the Islamists' deadline for government troops to surrender.
The Islamists intensified their efforts to capture Mogadishu after an exiled leader returned in April and pulled the disparate insurgent factions together into an alliance.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991, when the former dictator Siad Barre was overthrown by warlords. The current interim government was established with the help of the United Nations in 2004.
The AU peacekeepers number around 4,300. Their mandate includes the defence of the capital's port, airport and key government buildings.
The peacekeeping force arrived in the capital in March 2007, taking over from Ethiopian troops who intervened to help Somalia's transitional government oust Islamist forces from Mogadishu in late 2006.
Source: CBC, July 12, 2009