Edition: U.S. / Global

As Talks Stall, Somalia Strife Kills 300 Over 5 Days

Published: December 19, 1996

With peace talks on Somalia stalled, rival faction leaders in Mogadishu, the capital, have been waging street battles and hammering each other with mortars for five days in the worst fighting since July, aid workers and diplomats say. At least 300 people have died, many of them civilians, even though no faction has gained any territory.

The renewed violence comes at a time when Ethiopia has convened all but one of the clan-based political groups in Mogadishu to attend talks at a resort town, Sodore, outside the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Though the negotiations, which began on Nov. 29, were aimed at forming a new government, they have almost no chance of success, since one of the strongest factions, the Habr Gedir clan led by Hussein Mohammed Aidid, has boycotted the talks.

Diplomats say the surge of fresh fighting could mean that some factions in Mr. Aidid's coalition do not want peace and have renewed the fighting in an effort to undermine the talks. Mr. Aidid's faction calls itself the only legitimate government, and he has refused to negotiate unless his rivals acknowledge him as president.

Another theory is that Mr. Aidid's main rival, Mohammed Ali Mahdi, whose Abgal clan controls north Mogadishu, is behind the latest outbreak of violence because he wants to demonstrate his military strength and thus bolster his claim to the presidency during the talks in Ethiopia.

Whatever the underlying cause, the fighting has been brutal, aid workers say. Rival militias with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades have pushed each other back and forth across the southern suburb of Medina, killing many bystanders along the way. Markets and hospitals have been shelled. On Sunday, mortars killed 40 people in the Barakat market, including shoppers.

Mr. Aidid's faction has accused Mr. Ali Mahdi and Osman Hassan Ali Atto, a former Aidid ally who now controls an eastern slice of the city, of starting the most recent round of bloodshed. Neither Mr. Ali Mahdi nor Mr. Atto, who are secluded at the Ethiopian resort, could be reached for comment.

''They broke the truce,'' said Mohammed Jama, an Aidid spokesman in Nairobi, referring to a 10-day cease-fire. ''They are not targeting any military places. They are just targeting civilians.''

Aid workers say that as many as 900 people have been treated for gunshot wounds at hospitals since the fighting increased on Friday, and at least 80 have died of their wounds. The real toll is much higher. United Nations officials estimate that at least 300 combatants and civilians have been killed. Hundreds of residents have fled Medina for the relative safety of the countryside.

Mr. Aidid has found himself besieged on three fronts. Not only does he face a threat from Mr. Ali Mahdi in the north, but he is also fighting forces loyal to Mr. Atto, and forces allied with Musa Sudi Yalahow, a relative of Mr. Ali Mahdi's who holds Medina.

Aid workers say it is still unclear if Mr. Atto and Mr. Ali Mahdi have joined forces to drive Mr. Aidid out of the city. So far, Mr. Ali Mahdi's forces in north Mogadishu have limited themselves to shelling Mr. Aidid's territory and making a show of force along the ''green line'' dividing the town. If he were to invade southern Mogadishu, it would signal an all-out battle for control of the city.

What is clear, though, is that Mr. Aidid is becoming more and more isolated politically and besieged militarily. Diplomats say there are signs that his support among the Habr Gedir clansmen is eroding as well, though no one has broken away yet.

Mr. Aidid, 34, a former United States marine, succeeded his father, Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid, who died in August. The younger Mr. Aidid was elected president of Somalia by his own supporters, but he and his government have been rejected by the other faction leaders.

Aid workers say Mogadishu appears to be doomed to periodic battles because the faction leaders cannot find a political solution to the question of who will rule the country. The latest round of fighting is the third since April, when Mr. Atto's group split away from the rest of the Habr Gedir clan and began fighting with General Aidid's faction. A second surge of fighting welled up in July and August, during which the elder Mr. Aidid was shot and killed while fighting in Medina.

''Being unable to find a political settlement, they regularly try to take over militarily,'' said an aid worker, who insisted on anonymity.

But so far none of the rival groups have developed the military ability to dislodge Mr. Aidid. ''Nobody has the power to do a knockout blow,'' said a diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.