Kismayo reported calm after falling to SNF

The southern port of Kismayo was reported calm on Monday after its seizure from the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM) of Mohamed Said Hirsi (‘General Morgan’) by the Somali National Front (SNF), with whom Hussein Aideed is allied, media sources said. At least 26 people were killed and another 45 wounded in Friday’s fighting, with civilians accounting for most of the dead and wounded, the sources said. Tribal elders were busy discouraging looting and revenge killings by SNF fighters, who suffered heavy losses in earlier unsuccessful attempts to take Kismayu, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Somali media reported violent clashes in Galkaio, northeastern Somalia, between supporters of the Hawiye clan of Hussein Aideed and those of Abdullahi Yusuf, leader of the self-declared state of ‘Puntland’, who were protesting the seizure of Kismayo.