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Two French security advisers helping the Somali government have been kidnapped in the capital Mogadishu, French officials have said.


Islamist guerrillas roam freely in many
parts of lawless Mogadishu

Gunmen who were wearing police uniforms entered the hotel where the two were staying and took them away, eyewitnesses said.

The abductions took place in a government-held part of Mogadishu.

Islamist rebels are battling troops from the UN-backed interim government for control of the city.

Rebels repelled

The French foreign ministry said the two advisers were in Mogadishu on an official mission to provide help to the government.

They were seized at the Sahafi Hotel, which has often accommodated foreign journalists and Somali government ministers.
Hotel workers told BBC Somali that the two had checked in as journalists. A Somali official later told Reuters news agency they had done so for their own protection.

The kidnappings come two days after government troops forced Islamist militants from positions around the presidential palace.

Some of the 4,300 African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu helped push back the insurgents.

The radical rebel group al-Shabab and its allies have been trying to topple the fragile interim government, led by moderate Islamist President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

BBC News
 

Parts of Mogadishu are reported to be tense after government troops forced Islamist militants from positions around the presidential palace.


The government said it took some areas
from the insurgents

African Union peacekeepers joined the fierce fighting on Sunday, saying that their supply routes were threatened.
However, a spokesman denied they had been taking part in the offensive by government troops.
Reports say dozens of people were killed and about 150 wounded in Sunday's fighting.
The government said it had made substantial advances, taking a number of areas from the insurgents and killing more than 40 Islamists.

There are more than 4,000 AU troops in Somalia who are allowed to defend themselves if attacked. Their mandate includes the defence of strategic sites.

The privately-owned Somali radio HornAfrik said a relative calm had returned on Monday but the situation was "tense" and sporadic gunfire could still be heard.
Residents are fleeing their homes where the fighting had taken place in north Mogadishu, the station reported.
Mogadishu's deputy Mayor Abdifitah Shawey said the insurgents had captured an area near the presidential palace at the weekend.
"Amisom [the AU force] backed us up in this latest operation because the rebels were only 1km [from] the presidential palace," he said. "We lost three soldiers in battle."
However, AU spokesman Maj Bahoku Barigye told the BBC that they had left their compound around the presidential palace after their supply routes were threatened, and he denied that AU troops had joined a government offensive.

Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, took office in January but insurgents including the radical al-Shabab Islamists - accused of links to al-Qaeda - want to unseat him.

The United Nations human rights chief said on Friday both sides in Somalia's conflict are committing attacks and using torture against civilians, which may amount to war crimes.

Islamist insurgents are executing civilians, planting mines and bombs in residential areas and using torture while their tribunals hand down death sentences by stoning and decapitation, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said.

Pro-government forces are also said to have committed grave violations, including firing mortars on residential areas and using torture, she said in a statement.

Civilians, especially women and children, are bearing the brunt of the latest violence in the Horn of Africa country, Pillay said as government troops sought to drive insurgents from their bases in the capital Mogadishu.

"Witnesses have told U.N. investigators that the so-called al Shabaab groups fighting to topple the transitional government have carried out extrajudicial executions, planted mines, bombs and other explosive devices in civilian areas and used civilians as human shields," Pillay said.

"Fighters from both sides are reported to have used torture and fired mortars indiscriminately into areas populated or frequented by civilians," she said. "Some of these acts might amount to war crimes".

Al Qaeda-linked fighters in al Shabaab control much of southern and central Somalia and all but a few blocks of the capital. Western powers fear that if the Somali government is overthrown, the country will become a safe haven for al Qaeda training camps and that militants will destabilise the region.

'DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES'

Concerns are also increasing about living conditions inside the country, where aid agencies are struggling to reach needy people including more than 200,000 who have fled the capital.

"During the past week, heavy fighting in Mogadishu continued with devastating consequences for the civilian population and limited access for humanitarian agencies," the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said in its latest weekly bulletin issued on Friday.

It quoted the local Elman Peace and Human Rights Organisation as saying at least 350 civilians had been killed and more than 1,500 wounded since the offensive led by al Shabaab and Hisbul Islam militia began in May.

In the Somali town of Baidoa on Friday, witnesses described how hardline Islamist rebels beheaded seven people for being "Christians" and "spies" in the latest implementation of strict sharia law by the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group.

Pillay, a former U.N. war crimes prosecutor, said that human rights activists, aid workers and reporters in Somalia are at high risk. Six journalists have been killed in Mogadishu this year, including four apparently assassinated, she said.

"Once order has been restored -- and one day order will be restored -- those responsible for human rights violations and abuses should, and I hope will, be brought to justice," said Pillay, who is from South Africa.

Her spokesman Rupert Colville, asked whether a case could be brought to the International Criminal Court, noted that the Hague-based tribunal had indicted leaders of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army and Democratic Republic of Congo warlords.

At least 43 people have died during clashes in Somalia between government forces and armed rebels.

A Somali soldier holds his gun during fighting with Islamist rebels

However, some 4,300 government soldiers, backed by African Union peacekeepers, have still been unable to take control of rebel strongholds in the capital, Mogadishu, and other parts of the country.

"We have killed 40 fighters from al Shabaab group and we continue to repulse them. We have now pushed them back from three northern districts of Mogadishu. AU peacekeepers were assisting us," politician Salad Ali Jelle said.

There was no comment from the other side.

The fighting came as a result of rebels capturing an area near the presidential palace, Mogadishu's deputy mayor Abdifitah Shawey said.


Refugees have fled Somalia fighting

Somalia's interim government has been pushing for a stronger mandate for Amisom - the African Union Mission to Somalia - to allow its soldiers to help government forces fight opposition groups.

"Amisom backed us up in this latest operation because the rebels were only one kilometre away from the presidential palace," he said. "We lost three soldiers in battle."

Ugandan and Burundi peacekeepers are only allowed to defend themselves if attacked and protect key sites such as the presidential palace, airport and harbour.

An Amisom spokesman said: "Our troops were in imminent danger so we had to take some limited action because the rebels crossed the red line where they were not supposed to go to avoid our military action."

At least 18,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands more forced to flee their homes since fighting erupted in late 2006 when Ethiopian troops ousted the country's Islamic Courts Union.

Somali government forces have been trying to push
armed opposition fighters out of Mogadishu [Reuters]


Witnesses in Somalia have accused African Union (AU) peacekeepers of directly intervening in the fight against anti-government rebels in the capital for the first time.

Witnesses and Somali government officials said AU forces helped government troops battle rebel fighters as they advanced into northern Mogadishu on Sunday.

Sunday's fighting left at least 11 people dead, residents and officials said.

"Amisom [the peacekeeping force] backed us up in this latest operation because the rebels were only one kilometre to the presidential palace," a Somali official said.

"We lost three soldiers in battle and the other side left more dead bodies behind. I do not know their exact number."

AU denial

The 4,300-strong AU peacekeeping force was visible on the streets of Mogadishu on Sunday, but an AU spokesman denied engaging rebel forces in direct combat.

Major Barigye Bahoku told Al Jazeera that his forces were involved instead in what he called "a show of force".

"We have not been engaged [in fighting]," he said.

"We moved around in our convoy, with our equipment. We are not supposed to be confined ... rather we are supposed to provide security for all of Mogadishu.

"So we moved in, we showed force and we went back to the base and the government forces are continuing with their work."

Fighting rages

Mohamed Sheikh Nor, a journalist in Mogadishu, told Al Jazeera that the fighting is some of the worst in recent days.

"Somali government officials have been requesting the AU peacekeeping force in Somalia, especially in the capital Mogadishu, to be part of the fighting against the opposition fighters.

"But the AU, up until now, has been declining to comment" on why they have not accepted the government's request, he said.

"Today, it seems they have accepted and they are part of the fighting."

The peacekeepers - from Burundi and Uganda - generally try to avoid being drawn into the conflict in order to preserve their neutrality.

Their mandate includes the defence of the capital's port, airport and key government buildings.

An Al Jazeera correspondent, speaking from the frontline in Mogadishu, said on Sunday he had seen "several bodies" and that the fighting was still raging.

Fighters belonging to al-Shabab and other anti-government groups control swathes of southern and central Somalia and have boxed in government troops and the AU force into a few blocks of Mogadishu.

'Smell of blood'

Clashes on Saturday between the fighters and Somali troops killed at least 20 people.

"The streets are scary and smell of blood today," Ali Musa, an ambulance driver, told the Reuters news agency.

Among the dead in the heaviest fighting for a week was a senior police officer and a foreign fighter, residents said.

The government showed the body of a fighter it said was an Afghan national fighting with Hizbul Islam, an umbrella opposition group led by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys.

Farhan Arsanyo, a military spokesman, told Reuters: "He was an Afghan senior commander with the anti-peace men fighting the government. He has his country's passport."

"We captured others from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen, and we shall display them soon," Arsanyo added.

Sharif Ahmed, Somalia's president, is struggling to take control over the Horn of Africa nation from the fighters bent on overthrowing his western-backed government.

Armed Al-Shabaab fighters patrol
Bakara Market in Mogadishu,
Somalia, 29 Jun 2009

Somalia's neighbors are pleading for urgent international help to prevent the strategic Horn of Africa nation from falling into the hands of foreigners bent on turning it into a haven for terrorists. Regional foreign ministers held an emergency session to rally support for a last ditch effort to defend the transitional Somali government against a foreign invasion force.

Six Horn of Africa countries comprising the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, met in extraordinary session Friday with representatives of the African Union and the United Nations. The subject was how to save Somalia's embattled government from imminent collapse.

A day after the U.N. Security Council threatened sanctions against regional rogue state Eritrea, Ethiopia's Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said Somalia's conflict has changed from a civil war to a foreign invasion by forces hoping to create a radical Islamic state.

"The fighting is no longer between and among Somalis," he said. "It is a war of aggression on Somalia by external enemies, including al-Qaida."

Somalia's Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdilahi Omaar warned that radical Islamist fighters are arriving by the thousands.

"The current war in Somalia is a foreign war, led and supported by from outside the country," he said. "The leaders and the commanders of the armies are foreign, money comes from outside, ideology and political intentions, and programs are foreign based."

The U.N. Security Council is considering a request by the African Union and IGAD for tough measures to stop the foreign influx, including a naval blockade and a no-fly zone. Experts, however, say those measures will take months to implement, and would likely have limited effect in patrolling Africa's longest coastline.

What may be more timely is a rapid infusion of new forces to the African Union Peacekeeping force known as AMISOM, which is currently at only a little more than half its authorized strength of 8,000, and giving them authority to use force rather than simply to defend themselves.


Africa Union peacekeepers man
the entrance to the presidential
palace in the embattled Somalia
capital Mogadishu, 23 Feb 2009

In May, Somali troops backed by AMISOM repulsed a ferocious al-Shabab military assault aimed at toppling the transitional government. But AU Peace and Security Council director El-Ghassim Wane told the ministers the radical forces have regrouped and appear to be ready for a second wave.

"Even though the insurgents have so far not achieved their objectives, there is credible information that they are moving their forces into strategic positions in preparation for another major offensive," said Wane. "This of course calls for enhanced continued response by the AU and IGAD with the support of our partners in the international community."

Uganda and Burundi provide almost the entire AMISOM force at present. Both have pledged to send more, but the dispatch of troops has been delayed by technical issues. Other potential troop contributions appear to be month or years away

The IGAD countries, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, Djibouti and Somalia, are appealing to the U.N. Security Council to repeal part of an earlier resolution that prohibits Somalia's neighbors from contributing troops to AMISOM.

The United States recently delivered a $10 million package of weapons and training to Somali government forces. But military experts say it will take much more, including air and naval capability, to stop the well-trained and well-financed foreign fighters.

Baidoa — The Islamic administration officials of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen in Bay and Bakol regions have refuted reports saying that seven people were executed in the regions; officials told Shabelle radio on Saturday.

Sheik Mahad Omar Abdikarin, a chairman of the Islamic administration of Harkat Al-shabab Mujahideen held a press conference in Baidoa town has harshly disproved the reports wrote in some news agencies saying that at least seven people were executed in the regions in south of Somalia.

The Islamic administration official of Harakat Shabab Mujahideen said that there were people killed in the region earlier saying that they were in spying activities in there.

The chairman of the Islamic administration of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen in Bay and Bakol regions said that they will peruse to the people who spread the false news in the region saying that the security situation of the region is normal right now.

(CNN) -- Fresh fighting erupted Sunday between Somalia's transitional government forces and Islamist rebels, continuing a wave of violence that a top United Nations official called a "grave violation of human rights" that could possibly amount to war crimes.

The fighting restarted Sunday with heavy fire in a district north of the capital, Mogadishu, Somalia's Shabelle radio reported, quoting officials and witnesses.

On Saturday, the security director for the transitional government was killed and at least 40 people, mostly civilians were rushed to Mogadishu hospitals, according to Shabelle.

The United Nations' human rights chief said the strife in Somalia has caused "enormous suffering and massive displacement."

"In this new wave of attacks, it is clear that civilians -- especially women and children -- are bearing the brunt of the violence," said Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

She said attacks against civilians have been a signature feature of the conflicts that have plagued the Horn of Africa nation.

"There needs to be a much greater effort to protect civilians. Displaced people and human rights defenders, aid workers and journalists are among those most exposed, and in some cases are being directly targeted," she added.

Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and sparked brutal clan infighting.

The transitional government has struggled to establish authority, challenged by Islamist groups that have seized control of Mogadishu and much of the south.

The United Nations estimates that more than 200,000 people have been forced to flee Mogadishu since the latest round of fighting began in early May between the government and the Al-Shabab and Hisb-ul-Islam groups.

U.N. investigators, who spoke with refugees and internally displaced persons, reported that militants had carried out executions, planted land mines, bombs and other explosive devices in civilian areas, and used civilians as human shields, according to a statement from the office of the high commissioner for human rights.

The high commissioner also said there were reports of torture and evidence of child recruitment by forces fighting in Somalia.

"Some of these acts might amount to war crimes," Pillay said.

UNITED NATIONS -- The top United Nations human-rights official said that extremists trying to overthrow a fragile transition government in Somalia are carrying out ad hoc trials and killing prisoners by stoning, decapitation and amputation of limbs -- acts that "might amount to war crimes."

Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in Geneva that the al Shabaab militant group, which is attempting to gain control of the capital Mogadishu, had also been using human shields and indiscriminately firing mortars into populated areas where they have also planted bombs and mines.

"In this new wave of attacks, it is clear that civilians -- especially women and children -- are bearing the brunt of the violence," Ms. Pillay said. "Displaced people and human-rights defenders, aid workers and journalists are among those most exposed, and in some cases are being directly targeted."

The militants on Friday beheaded seven prisoners, accusing them of abandoning the Muslim faith and spying for the government, the Associated Press reported.

The fighting has displaced 200,000 people in the past month. There are now 1.2 million displaced Somalis.

Ms. Pillay called on those able to do so to gather evidence that might one day be used in court.

Somalia has been without an effective central government since 1991, when the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown. Since then, competing groups of warlords and Islamic groups have vied for control. Western diplomats say the current transitional government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, which came to power in February, offers Somalia the best hope in years for political stability.

Toward that end Western governments, including the U.S., have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to help shore up the government's and other regional security forces.

TOKYO, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Japan sends two Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) destroyers for anti-piracy missions off Somalia Monday under a new law authorizing them to escort commercial ships of any nationality.

The 4,550-ton Harusame departed from its base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, and the 3,500-ton Amagiri left its base in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, both in the afternoon.

The destroyers will take over escort roles later this month from two other destroyers that have been operating in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden since March.

Two MSDF P-3C Orion surveillance airplanes have also been dispatched to the African country of Djibouti to provide patrol flights over the gulf and convey information on suspicious ships to commercial ships and foreign navies.

The Japanese parliament enacted an anti-piracy law on June 19 expanding the Self-Defense Forces (SDF)'s protection mission to any commercial ship from pirates, regardless of a Japanese connection.

In addition to lifting the limitation on ships, the new anti-piracy law also allows Japan's destroyers to fire at pirates in case of they ignore repeated warnings and deemed as dangerous.

Opposition parties have criticized the legislation, arguing the law will pave way for dispatch of the SDF abroad at will, which is a sensitive issue in Japan due to constitutional limits on the use of force.

In a related development, a number of major countries, including the United States, the European Union countries, Russia and China have send navies to the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden to protect commercial ships from pirates.