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Somalis spill into streets to protest Ethiopian presence

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 7, 2007

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Hundreds of protesters crowded the streets Saturday, burning tires and smashing car windows while denouncing the presence of Ethiopian forces and shouting defiance at the interim government's call for disarming Mogadishu.

At least two people died in the violence, which exposed discontent in a city seeing its first legitimate governing force in years. Soldiers loyal to the U.N.-backed government and Ethiopia's military drove out a radical Islamic group last week that had been in control for six months.

One protester, Haeyle Abdulle Hussein, 23, said, "We are protesting against the disarmament and the Ethiopian presence in the country. We cannot accept disarmament under occupation. We will wage a holy war instead."

Meanwhile, near Kismayo, along Somalia's southern coast, Ethiopian-led forces continued to hunt down the last remnants of the once powerful Islamist forces, who ruled much of the country until Ethiopia and its powerful army intervened last month.

According to Abdul Rashid Hidig, a government official in Kismayo, the Ethiopian-led forces blew up several of the Islamists' armed pickup trucks, leaving hundreds of fighters cornered in a remote jungle with their backs to the Indian Ocean and no way to escape. "I think it will be over very soon," Hidig said.

In Mogadishu, it was not clear what prompted the bloodshed or who was responsible. A 13-year-old boy was killed by gunfire and at least 17 people suffered bullet wounds, said Dr. Dahir Mohamud, a physician at Medina Hospital.

An Ethiopian soldier died when his hand grenade accidentally exploded, according to a nurse at the hospital.

Many in predominantly Muslim Somalia resent having troops from neighboring Ethiopia, which has a large Christian population. The countries have fought two brutal wars, the last in 1977.

Shopkeepers closed their businesses and public buses stopped running along Mogadishu's crumbling streets as gunfire crackled all day. Women in flowing Somali dresses and veils shouted "Down with Ethiopia!" as they marched through the ruined seaside town.

The government announced earlier in the day it was postponing plans to forcibly disarm the city - an operation that had been set to begin Friday, but didn't.

[Last modified January 7, 2007, 00:53:23]