Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Somali, Ethiopian troops intervene to stop clan fighting

KISMAYO, Somalia Jan 9 (Garowe Online) - In a sign of things to come, Ethiopian troops were dispatched alongside Somali forces to the town of Beerhaano in southern Somalia to intervene between warring clan militias.

The clan militias had been fighting in the area in the past days, with clan leaders saying at least 5 people were killed.

The interim Somali government had previously appealed for the clan militias to stop the fighting, and Col. Barre “Hirale” Adan Shire, the government’s defense chief, held inconclusive talks with clan elders in Kismayo.

“The government deployed troops to the area to halt the fighting,” one military official who declined to be named told Garowe Online from Kismayo.

There was no fighting reported from the Beerhaano area on Tuesday, a sign that government and Ethiopian forces had taken command.

Garowe Online News

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