The fighting that broke out in Mogadishu harbor on May 11 and 12 between followers of the warlord Hussein Aideed and militiamen favorable to President Abdulkassim Salad Hassan‘s Transitional National Government (TNG) are the most violent in the Somalian capital in years. It all started when TNG leaders learned that on May 11, Aideed was to visit a zone inside the harbor controlled by the warlord Furhu (a small Habr Gedir warlord of the Saleban sub-clan close to the TNG but mainly working for his own sake) for negotiations with a number of groups. Pro-TNG militia close to Mohamed Deilaf, the Habr Gedir businessman of the Ayr sub-clan who has an important warehouse near the harbor, then set a trap for Aideed without necessarily acting on orders from President Hassan. Within minutes after Hussein Aideed had entered the harbor, the access roads thereto had been cut, trapping him inside. Worried, he called for reinforcements from the Villa Somalia, a zone under his control. Soon, fighting had broken out with Deilaf’s militiamen, but to no avail: Aideed had no means of leaving the harbor. Then, during the night of May 11-12, came the heavier artillery. The so-called technicals, the jeeps armed with machineguns, forced their way in, liberated Aideed, and then turned on Deilaf’s warehouses which, with the help of the population, they ransacked. These "libearating" forces were sent by Ahmed Dualeh Haf and Abdirashid Ilqeite, who, despite their loyalty to the TNG, came to Aideed’s rescue out of clanic solidarity, their being Habr Gedir members of the same Saad sub-clan.

ION – Following this humiliation, Deilaf sought an audience with the Ugas of the Habr Gedir, Abdi Dahir, to convince the religious dignitary to launch a war against the Saad, but his pleas went unheeded, notably by Hassan. Furious at being betrayed by the TNG president, whose financing he has backed with other Ayr businessmen, Deilaf withdrew the armed men of his who had been guarding Abdulkassim Salad Hassan’s home. And the president had to find some other place to spend the night, as the situation in Mogadishu no longer offered enough protection for ensure his safety.

THE INDIAN OCEAN NEWSLETTER N° 950

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