Somalis living the capital, Mogadishu are reportedlycondemning Monday night's Islamist insurgent attacks on African Union (AU)forces that led to a loss of lives and property. The insurgents reportedly saidartillery and rocket propelled grenades were fired into Mogadishu'ssouthern quarter where Ugandan troops from the AU peacekeeping force are based.
Someresidents in the capital are calling on the transitional government to live upto its responsibilities and protect Somalis who have recently come under heavyattacks from Islamic insurgents. From the capital, Mogadishu, Somali politicalanalyst Abdurrahman Mahmoud Tamele tells reporter Peter Clottey that thetransitional government (TFG) seems to be powerless against the Islamicinsurgents.
"There have been attacks andcounterattacks between the African Union forces, which are backing the TransitionalFederal Government, and the Islamists, who are opposing the African Unionforces, as well as the Ethiopian forces. So, the situation is day by day takinga different turn and getting worse because the main problem is a big problem ofleadership or the lack thereof," Tamele pointed out.
He said the lack of unityamong the arms of the federal government is creating a problem in the capital,which he claims is being exploited by the insurgents.
"There is a crisis withinthe Transitional Federal Government and it looks like the national institutionsare going to be paralyzed to the opposition forces. These negative forces areseeing that the government is weak, so they are making or attacking to prove toeverybody, including the international community, that they are strong and aforce to reckon with in Somalia," he said.
Tamele said Somalis haveunanimously condemned the insurgent attacks on the African Union forces.
"Truly speaking, the peopleare condemning these attacks coming from the Islamists on the African Union. Sothe people are really fed up with the ongoing violence because it looks like noone has the ability to defeat the other one. So it is the ordinary people whoare suffering from the escalated violence. The government is accusing theopposition forces, but the opposition forces are claiming they are liberatingthe people," Tamele noted.
He reiterated that the lackof co-ordination between the various arms of the transitional government is anenabling environment for the Islamic insurgents to exploit to the detriment ofthe ordinary Somalis.
"The transitional governmentcannot protect the people because it is in a very confused situation. There areproblems between the Somali parliament and the presidency as well as thecabinet, so the government has no effective role at this moment in time to meetits obligations, which are at this point to protect ordinary Somalis. So thegovernment seems to be paralyzed and unable to protect the people who are beingattacked by the insurgents. So the hopes of the people are somewhat beingdashed because the government is weak and ineffective to protect them againstthe attacks of the opposition forces," he said.
Tamele said Ethiopian forceshave been trying to maintain peace and security in the capital as well as inother surrounding areas.
"Now, the Ethiopian forcesare normalizing conditions. The people are seeing that the Ethiopians arebacking the transitional government and the president, but now they are backingthe system as whole to ensure that there is some sort of peace and security inthe country," Tamele pointed out.
Meanwhile,aid groups have scaled down operations in Somalia because of the growinginsecurity. It is largely blamed onIslamist militants who have waged a guerilla war since they were ousted lastyear by a joint Somali-Ethiopian offensive.
Somalia has been without an effectivegovernment since the 1991 ouster of President MohamedSiad Barre, which reportedly touched off bloodletting that has defiedseveral attempts to restore stability and return the country to constitutionalrule.