Arab Monitor
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The move follows yesterday's raid on Shabelle Radio. Shabelle has been closed down by government forces for eight times since the Ethiopian invasion. The assault on private news boradcasters comes as International and the Somali Red Cross officials warn that the humanitarian situation is spiraling out of control, describing it as the worst in Africa, worse still than the situation in Darfur. Pedran Yazdi, speaker of the Somali Red Cross said the clashes between Ethiopian forces and supporters of the Islamic Courts have caused at least 70 deaths in the last few days and sent over three hundred wounded civilians to the only three hospitals in the capital.
Doctors, medical staff and volunteers are struggling to keep the wounded alive and the surgeons are completely exhausted. International aid agencies say half the Somali population has been internally displaced by the fighting.
The International Red Cross called on combattants from all parties to avoid residential areas of civilians, but Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, President of Somalia, dismissed the calls remarking "when two elephants fight each other, they destroy the grass." Speaking at a press conference in Nairobi, the Somali President called on the residents of Mogadishu to support his struggle against his enemies, saying that "people in neighbourhoods must also fight the Shabab [armed wing of the Somali Islamic Courts] and chase them away. Otherwise they are the ones who suffer in crackdown."
Source: Arab Monitor, Nov 14, 2007