Thousands protest against violence

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Sunday to protest against continuing violence and abductions in the city, according to one of the organisers. Abdullahi Muhammad Shirwa of the Civil Society in Action told IRIN on Monday that the protest, one of the largest ever seen in the city, was organised by a grouping of 46 civil society organisations. These included women's and human rights groups, professionals and "even Koranic schools". Habibo Haji Jim'ale, a member of the Law Society of Somalia, another of the organizers told IRIN that robberies, car-jackings, kidnappings and general banditry in the city had been increasing over the last eight months. "We [demonstrators] want to tell the faction leaders to assume responsibility for whatever happens in areas under their control," she said. "They cannot on the hand say 'we control this area' and on the other deny responsibility for what happens there." Shirwa said the demonstrators were also protesting against any "renewed conflict in the Lower Juba Region". Local media have been warning during the last few days that an attack on Kismayo by faction leader Gen Muhammad Sa'id Hirsi Morgan is imminent. According to Habibo, the demonstrators also wanted to send a message to the Somali peace talks currently being held in Kenya. "We are all agreed that talks should not produce a government dominated by faction leaders," she stressed. "If such a government emerges faction leaders will give themselves immunity from any violations they may have perpetrated." The demonstrators called on both the Somalis and the international community "to make sure that a government composed of clean people comes out of the talks". They also demanded that leaders who are currently absent from the talks should return "instead of organising and fomenting new conflicts". "We want all those who are not in Nairobi to return so that the talks can be concluded successfully," Habibo told IRIN. A number of prominent faction leaders are absent from the talks. They include Mogadishu-based faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow and Col Barre Shire Hiirale, leader of the Juba Valley Alliance (JVA), which controls the port city of Kismayo.