TNG denies role in Mogadishu fighting

The Transitional National Government (TNG) was not involved in the fighting that has ravaged Mogadishu in the past few days, a senior government official told IRIN. Abdi Hasan Awale Qeybdid, the Banaadir (Mogadishu and its environs) regional police chief, said the recent fighting in north Mogadishu had been between two sub-clans, and the TNG's role had solely been "to separate the two sides and mediate, which we have succeeded in". The fighting which broke out on 12 July, pitted the Warsangeli against the Wa'asle, both sub-clans of the main Abgal clan, while the clashes on 14 July were between forces loyal to faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow, a member of the Abgal opposed to the TNG, and the Warsangeli. Local sources told IRIN that the two days of fighting had caused over 40 deaths and an unknown number of wounded. The subsequent fighting in south Mogadishu, on Sunday and Monday, was between a militia working for businessmen and another, loyal to faction leader Usman Ali Ato, around a strategic checkpoint at KM-7, southwest of Mogadishu. The businessmen are said to belong to the Ayr sub-clan of the main Habar Gedir clan, while Ato is member of the Sa'd sub-clan of the same main clan, a local resident told IRIN. Qeybdid denied that government forces had been involved in the fighting. He explained that TNG involvement was limited to the fact that the businessmen's militia had been escorting a convoy carrying relief materials. The TNG had since succeeded in defusing the situation in the city, Qeybdid said, adding that he was "90 percent confident that there will be no more fighting in Mogadishu". He stressed, however, that the TNG would deploy police to all important junctions in the city, including KM-7, in order to contain rampant crime. The death toll in this confrontation was about 15, plus more than 60 wounded, Shaykhdon Salad Ilmi, director of the Medina hospital, where most of the wounded were taken, told IRIN. He said there had been no further fighting since Monday afternoon, but that the situation remained tense.