Robert Duncan
November 19, 2010
At least 21 people were killed Wednesday in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The “battles”, which basically just artillery strikes, left many more wounded. According to witnesses, the African Union (AU) began shelling the area of the Bakara market, which is the city’s largest, after their convoys were again attacked by al- Shabab. There were civilians in the market when the AU began the shelling, and there have been more than fifteen civilian bodies recovered by emergency medical teams. Witnesses also stated that the roadside bombing of the convoy that caused the shelling of the Bakara market left five civilians dead, though the AU made no comment on civilian deaths. Ali Muhamud Hussein, who is now the al- Shabab mayor of Mogadishu stated that al- Shabab is: “prepared to fight every single infidel wherever he or she is, including as far as Moscow.” He also said: “We need to terrorize all non-believers anywhere”
This should be a clear sign to the UN that it needs to get involved immediately, before the situation degenerates any further. The African Union is clearly not as effective as the UN has previously believed them to be, with their civilian death toll approaching thirty in just this week. In addition to the AU’s failure to control the situation, now al- Shabab is speaking of targeting non-believers anywhere. This could mean more terror attacks in the region, which would cause a regional backlash against the UN for not trying to control the situation when they had the chance.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/11/20101117141044140607.html
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