UN-Truth

What is about to happen here?

It is perfectly predictable and obvious. This man, lying face down on the ground, is about to be summarily shot.

The Guardian newspaper of London ran a story on Thursday by Reuters correspondent Sahal Abdulle in Mogadishu, reporting that: “Anybody with the means to leave Mogadishu has already gone. Some houses have one or two people guarding them. Many others are abandoned. The markets are open but very quiet. Even the people who carry sacks of rice are too afraid to work. The war that we worried about has not only started but has taken a turn we never thought was possible. The latest fighting has been going on for nine days. It seems the shelling never stops. On Saturday night it was raining and we could not make out what was thunder and what was artillery. Both sides are firing indiscriminately. Even the normally quiet areas are under attack. From my house in K4 I can see branches falling where the bullets are hitting. In other areas it is far worse. There are burned bodies in burned-out houses. People are being buried by the roadside in shallow graves. There are so many wounded people; from babies to 90-year-olds. They are brought to the hospitals near my house in wheelbarrows and donkey carts, bleeding, missing limbs. The smells and sounds are unbearable. I find myself crying. I need to go to the hospitals to chronicle what is happening. But it is getting too hard emotionally. As a reporter for Reuters I am an observer, but I am also a human being…At my home near the airport I now have five other journalists staying with me because their houses are in areas that are being heavily shelled. They joke and call themselves Internally Displaced Journalists. We often report from the roof of my house because it is too dangerous to move around the city. We must walk a very fine line. Not only are we afraid of getting killed in fighting as innocent bystanders, but by reporting the reality you quickly create enemies. My sons phone everyday from Toronto to ask why I am still here and doing this to them. Even local people here ask why I am staying when I could get out. I tell them that I want to show the world what is going on. But they say that the world doesn’t care or this would not be happening to us“.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2066450,00.html

UN SG BAN Ki-Moon has appealed for an end to the fighting. The Associated Press reported Saturday that there was a lull at the weekend, and that at least 1,000 people are dead, and Somalia’s President — backed by the UN Security Council, is sorry: “Somalia’s president said Saturday he regretted the heavy fighting that killed more than 1,000 people in the capital in the past month, as residents began collecting rotting bodies from the streets to prepare for burial. Mogadishu was calm for a second day after nine days of warfare between Islamic insurgents and Ethiopian and Somali government troops during which they attacked each other with mortars, heavy artillery, grenades and machine-gun fire. Somali and Ethiopian troops have been trying to crush the insurgents since late March. Since February, up to 400,000 people have fled the city. President Abdullah Yusuf on Saturday declared victory over the insurgents, urging residents to return to their homes. “We, the government, regret fighting in residential areas and forcing them to flee their homes,” he told reporters. It was not clear how long the peace would last, but some residents made a slow return to their homes and others began collecting bodies from the streets, according to local radio stations. Ethiopian and Somali troops and police officers were also seen patrolling streets in the battle-scarred capital, searching vehicles for weapons … Yusuf also said his government would try to ensure that aid groups can work in the country without any hindrance. U.N. officials and diplomats in the region complain that Somali government officials have slowed down efforts to assist refugees who have fled Mogadishu to other towns by demanding to inspect all food and medical deliveries. The insurgents are linked to the Council of Islamic Courts, which was driven out of the capital in December by Somali and Ethiopian soldiers, accompanied by U.S. special forces. The U.S. has accused the courts of having ties to al-Qaida. The militants … have sworn to launch an Iraq-style insurgency. Somalia has not had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. The current administration was formed in 2004 but has struggled to extend its control over the country”.

Filed under: Journalism and Journalists, Somalia, UN Security Council