Fighting between Ethiopians and Somali insurgents escalates in Mogadishu

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But on Thursday at dawn, residents said a phalanx of Ethiopian tanks and troops rumbled into central Mogadishu. Masked insurgents rushed into the streets to greet them. Pitched battles followed, with Ethiopian helicopters firing missiles....

"The Ethiopians cheated us," said Mohammed Ali Deriyeah, a Hawiye elder. "The retaliation is going to be very bad."

The BBC reports that the prime minister of Somalia's transitional government, Mohammed Ali Ghedi, accused the media of exaggerating the scale of the recent fighting, and maintained that the purpose of the recent raids by the Ethiopians are designed to rid the city of terrorists.

"There are some insurgents in the city who have links with international terrorists and are fighting against the government and the people of Somalia - we are attacking their positions," Mr Ghedi told the BBC Network Africa programme from Saudi Arabia, where he is attending the Arab League summit.

However, the Zurich-based International Relations and Security Network (ISN) reports that tensions between Mogadishu's Hawiye clan and the clan of interim President Abdullahi Yusuf have contributed to the recent violence.

The government accuses remnants of the ousted Islamist movement of being behind the recent spate of attacks on Somali government and Ethiopian troops in the country. However, further complicating matters, the leaders of a major clan, the Hawiye, which inhabits southern Somalia, including the capital, say they are dissatisfied with the government and that their militias are resisting its attempt to spread its authority throughout the capital. The Hawiye elders accuse the government forces of being exclusively from the president's clan, the Darood, and are trying to disarm them.

The government had expressed reluctance over the ceasefire signed between Ethiopian troops and Hawiye elders last week, and continues to accuse the clan leaders of serving as a cover for the Islamists – an accusation vehemently denied by clan elders.

Clan spokesman Diriye told local radio that interim President Abdullahi Yusuf was seeking to subjugate Somali clans to his own clan. He said the interim government's soldiers were from the northeastern self-autonomous region of Puntland where Yusuf had been regional president before being elected president of Somalia.

ISN also reports that the Mogadishu offensive comes almost three weeks before a national reconciliation congress is to be held in the capital "to reconcile different clans in the country," although many are doubtful that the violence will subside in time for the conference to take place.

In other news, an AP report says a new White House study finds that despite the ouster of the UIC, Somalia is still a safe haven for terrorists, and contributes "to a growing security threat throughout East Africa."

The report, submitted to key congressional committees, said several al-Qaida operatives have used Somalia as a base of operations, including the perpetrators of the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa and the 2002 attacks against an Israeli airliner and a hotel in Kenya.

"The individuals pose an immediate threat to both Somali and international interests in the Horn of Africa," the report said.

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