Bloody fighting grips Somali town of Dhuusa Marreeb

[frigidmagi]

BBC

At least 47 people have been killed and 100 injured in fighting in the central Somali town of Dhuusa Marreeb, a human rights official has told the BBC.

Ali Yasin Gedi, of Somali human rights group Elman, said many people had fled the town where allies of the government fought to drive out Islamist rebels.

The pro-government Ahlu Sunna group is said to have recaptured the strategic town from al-Shabab militants.

The militants were reportedly in control of the town for a few hours.

Correspondents say Ahlu Sunna was founded as a non-violent group to promote moderate Islam but decided last year to take up arms against al-Shabab, which is accused of links to al-Qaeda.

Somalia has not had a functioning national administration since 1991. Its UN-backed government controls only a few parts of the country.

'Most violent yet'

Mr Gedi said his information was based on conversations with his organisation's workers in the town, 500km (310 miles) north of the capital, Mogadishu.

BBC map

He told the BBC that some people had been taking the wounded to hospitals elsewhere in the region.

"Our monitoring office has confirmed that most of the casualties were from the warring factions, but some civilians were also killed," he said.

"Many people who fled from the town have not returned yet and they are in the outskirts of the town without shelter and the sun is extremely hot."

One resident, Hussein Moalim Mahad, told AFP news agency the fighting had been "the most violent ever seen in Dhuusa Marreeb".

Local chief Abdulahi Gedi said he had sent out two teams to collect bodies lying inside and outside the town.

Unverified reports say al-Shabab has been spotted regrouping in areas outside the town.

It is the first fighting in the area, which has been controlled by Ahlu Sunnah since a year ago when they defeated al-Shabab.

[Mayabird]

I really don't see any legitimate reasons (the African Union being a bunch of pissypants, which is probably the actual reason, I don't consider legitimate) why the parts of Somalia that aren't Somaliland can't just be handed to Ethiopia. They did a good, fast job of smacking the Islamists around and they'd probably appreciate having some seaports again.

[The Minx]

The people living there would probably also appreciate having an actual government too, for a change.

[frigidmagi]

I really don't see any legitimate reasons (the African Union being a bunch of pissypants, which is probably the actual reason, I don't consider legitimate) why the parts of Somalia that aren't Somaliland can't just be handed to Ethiopia. They did a good, fast job of smacking the Islamists around and they'd probably appreciate having some seaports again.

Religion and History. Ethopia while having a large Muslim minority is actually a majority Christian nation (barely). Somalia is mostly Muslim. Other Muslim nations really don't like the idea of Christian states ruling Muslims or Muslim areas. To be fair here, Ethopia is fairly secular in it's government, no one has a commanding enough majority for anything else, but most Muslim states don't care for that either. If I'm gonna be honest I don't really want a Muslim state ruling over Christians but considering most Muslim states and events in Sudan could you blame me? That's not an endorsement of Christian Theocracy, I think anyone who is willing to be objective about it will admit a Constitutional Secular Government (read one neutral on religious matters) is best for everyone.

History wise, before Italy grabbed it, the area was run by Ethiopia. The Somalis consider themselves a separate people and that time to be foreign domination. This isn't an opinion shared by everyone over there but there was enough of that to encourage resistance to the Ethiopian Army you'll note.

And then there's this. Most African states are artificial. They do not reflect the realities on the ground, may groups are spread out over several nation states, each one set up so they can't be the majority in any of them and are thus regulated to minority status. To be blunt most African states are ripe for separation and reorganization. If that happens the current elites will lost out in lot of cases. Who runs the African Union and all the African militaries? (African militaries, man I can't type that without laughing)

The current elites. So they oppose the independence of Southern Sudan, Solmailand and half a dozen other things because they don't want that kinda of thing becoming common.

[Hadrianvs]

I really don't see any legitimate reasons why the parts of Somalia that aren't Somaliland can't just be handed to Ethiopia. They did a good, fast job of smacking the Islamists around and they'd probably appreciate having some seaports again.

The Ethiopians don't want it. They were planning to de facto annex the southern part of Somalia after they mounted a veritable crusade to kick the Islamic Courts Union out of Mogadishu. Ethiopia wasn't planning on leaving, but three years later they decided the place was just more trouble than it's worth, and left. You would probably have to pay Ethiopia to get them to go back, they're sick of the place.