Scores dead in battle-ravaged Somali capital

Somalia's battle-ravaged capital, Mogadishu, suffered a third successive day of fighting yesterday. Scores of civilians were killed, hundreds were injured, and thousands fled. The Red Cross described it as the worst violence the once beautiful seaside city has witnessed in 15 years.

Somali government troops, backed up by their Ethiopian counterparts, battled with hundreds of insurgents, armed with rocket launchers and machine guns. An Ethiopian helicopter was brought down by a missile on Friday. Bodies of Ethiopian soldiers have been dragged through the streets.

There were unconfirmed reports that more than 20 Ethiopian soldiers had been killed, while Ethiopia claim-ed that its troops had killed 200 "armed remnants" of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which controlled the city until December.

The Somali presidential spokesman claimed that al-Qa'ida had sent foreign fighters to Somalia to carry out attacks. Regional analysts said that groups of radicalised Islamic fighters, known as the Shabaab, had been joined in the insurgency by clan militia belonging to warlords and opportunistic armed gangs.

The government insisted that the three-day military operation would put an end to the insurgency that has blighted the capital since the end of January, but many are sceptical. Already, nearly 60,000 people have left Mogadishu in the past two months - more than 12,000 in the past week. Witnesses said thousands were on the move yesterday, setting out on foot at first light and leaving the city.

Proponents of Ethiopia's incursion into Somalia over Christmas had claimed the demise of the UIC would bring security to the Horn of Africa. The US backed Ethiopia's action, saying the UIC's leadership had been taken over by al-Qa'ida.

Some diplomats believe the fighting has now developed into clan warfare, mainly between the Darod and the Hawiye. Although the transitional Somali government is supposed to represent all four major clans, plus five smaller ones, it is in essence controlled by the Darod, the clan of President Abdullahi Yusuf.

Hawiye clan elders and businessmen, who control most of Mogadishu's lucrative import industries, had given their support to the UIC. Hawiye elders last week attempted to negotiate a truce, but it has fallen apart in dramatic fashion.

A national reconciliation conference is due to be held in Mogadishu later this month, but its success will depend largely on who is able to attend. Some 3,000 delegates from Somalia's clans will be invited. But as it stands there is currently no place for the moderate former leaders of the UIC.

The government has made it clear they cannot attend unless they publicly renounce violence. Many of the senior moderates in the UIC appeared willing to do so in January. Instead the insurgency has taken hold, and any hopes of peace returning to Mogadishu any time soon have disappeared.