Islamist fighters fire at Kismayo protesters

By Sahro Ahmed | September 25, 2006

Somali protesters hold a poster during a demonstration that was organised by the Islamic Courts of Somalia in Mogadishu September 22, 2006. REUTERS/Shabele Media

The shooting came as several thousand Somalis took to the streets shouting anti-Islamist slogans, burning tires and throwing stones in protests against the Islamist takeover of the city overnight.

Residents of Somalia's third biggest city, which lies near the Kenyan border, said some arriving Islamist fighters had stirred up an already tense atmosphere by burning the Somali national flag and raising an Islamic one.

That set off protests, after the town had previously been peaceful since the Islamists rode in on battle-wagons to take Kismayo without firing a shot, they said.

"I witnessed the Somali flag being ripped apart and burned. This is unacceptable. It will cause a big problem," said Mahad Abdullahi, a resident of Kismayo.

A Reuters witness saw thousands of men and women pouring on to the streets, shouting "We don't want the Islamic Courts" and tossing stones at trucks used by Islamist fighters.

Roads were blocked with stones and burning tires, she said.

The move into Kismayo extends the Islamists' grip after they seized the capital Mogadishu in June from U.S.-backed warlords and advanced across a swathe of the south.

Somalia's interim government regards the takeover of Kismayo as a breach of an agreement it reached with the Islamists, during talks in Khartoum, to maintain a ceasefire and stop any territorial expansion.

Islamist fighters take over Kismayo Port

KISMAYO, Somalia (Reuters) - Islamist forces with machine guns mounted on pick-up trucks took over the strategic Somali port of Kismayo overnight on Monday without firing a shot, extending their grip on the south, witnesses said.

Crowds gathered from early morning to watch the Islamist fighters who had ridden into the port, the Horn of Africa nation's third largest city which lies near the Kenya border.

The warlord in charge of the region fled late on Sunday.

Colonel Abdikadir Adan Shire, also known as Barre Hiraale, is defence minister in Somalia's weak interim government and led the Juba Valley Alliance (JVA), an independent authority that has controlled the region around Kismayo.

JVA authorities put up no resistance to the Islamists, some immediately promising to work with them.

"I am happy for the new change, I welcome it. The chief of police and myself will work with the Islamic Courts' Union," Abdi Mohamed, Kismayo deputy police chief, told Reuters.

Barre Hiraale's hasty exit on Sunday followed a split within the Alliance on how to respond to the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which seized Mogadishu and other parts of southern and central Somalia earlier this year.

The Islamists' advances since June have challenged the aspirations of the Western-backed interim government of President Abdullahi Yusuf which aims to restore central rule for the first time since warlords ousted a dictator in 1991.

CROWDS GATHER

The militarily weak government, now flanked by the Islamists on three sides, is based in the provincial town of Baidoa.

Witnesses say Ethiopian troops are protecting it.

The Islamists had in the last month been urging Barre Hiraale to hand over Kismayo, since many of the militias protecting it have clan alignments close to the Islamists.

"Kismayo has fallen and not a single bullet was fired," an Islamist source in the capital Mogadishu told Reuters.

Kismayo residents confirmed Islamist troops and trucks had entered the city. Crowds were gathering in a central square to hear Islamist leaders speak later on Monday, they said.

The government had said a takeover of Kismayo would breach a ceasefire and non-expansion deal between the administration and the Islamists agreed during recent talks in Sudan.

A top Islamist leader, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, told the al Jazeera network that Kismayo residents had been "waiting on the streets for the Islamists to come and control Kismayo."

He added: "It is not a matter of controlling, but it's a matter of union."

Rumours of an impending flare-up in Kismayo sent thousands of refugees fleeing to Kenya in recent days, with 300-600 arriving daily in the Dadaab camps just over the border, according to the United Nations.

(Additional reporting by Sahal Abdulle in Mogadishu and Hassan Yare in Baidoa)