Mogadishu fighting follows peace deal in Kenya

Heavy fighting erupted in Medina district, in the southwest of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, early on Thursday morning, leaving unknown numbers of people dead and wounded, local sources told IRIN. The fighting broke out at 4:am (01:00 GMT) when militia loyal to Mogadishu faction leader Muse Sudi Yalahow attacked supporters of his former right-hand man and deputy, Umar Mahmud Muhammad Finish, sources said. Both Yalahow and Finish belong to the Da'ud subclan of the Abgal clan. Finish, who is currently in Nairobi, confirmed to IRIN on Thursday morning that the fighting had started "and is still going on as we speak". Yalahow is the leader of the United Somali Congress/Somali Salivation Alliance (USC/SSA), and a senior member of the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council, a grouping of southern factions opposed to the Transitional National Government of Somalia. Finish, on the other hand, joined the factions which signed a peace deal with the TNG in the Kenyan town of Nakuru on Monday. "This fighting is meant to undermine the peace deal, but it will not work," Finish said. "If this was meant to weaken our resolve to bring peace to our people, it will not work. It will only reinforce our determination to move forward with the peace process," he said, adding that he was saddened by the loss of life and the destruction caused by the fighting. The fighting started at Jazira airstrip when Yalahow's forces tried to capture it from supporters of Finish, Usman Haji, a Mogadishu resident, told IRIN. According to Haji, Yalahow's forces lost two technicals (pick-ups mounted with heavy weapons) and an ammunition dump when a garage belonging to Yalahow was reportedly overrun in the ensuing fighting. "Most of Medina is in the hands of Finish supporters," Haji added. The Medina district had been in Yalahow's control throughout the Somali civil war.