Somalia: Al-Shabab militia attacks hotel in Mogadishu

Militants attacked on Tuesday the Muna hotel in Mogadishu, with tens of deaths (six of them at least are TFG lawmakers) and about one hundred wounded. The building is situated within a mile from the presidential palace “Villa Somalia” and is regularly used by officials and politicians of the Transitional Federal Government. According to witnesses, at about 10.00 a.m., a small group of armed men (5 to 8 people), disguised as TFG militiamen and “not Somalis” had tried to attack the Sahafi hotel, being rejected by security militias; they then folded on to the Muna, where they succeeded in penetrating the structure, killing civilians and officials indiscriminately before exploding their belts when overwhelmed by security.

The wounded are transported to the Medina hospital in Mogadishu for injuries caused by gun shots and chips, which confirms the use of explosives during the attack as detailed by witnesses who escaped the massacre. The night between Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th had passed quietly after several attacks had taken place on Monday against the barracks of militia hired by institutions, particularly in the districts of Holwadag, Hodan and Bondhere where violent shootings and artillery exchange had killed at least thirty civilians.

Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Rage, a spokesman for al-Shabab movement, had declared the start of a “final” war against the “invader”, namely the approximately 6,000 AMISOM peacekeepers that are in the country to protect the Transitional Institutions and major infrastructures. The arrival of several hundred reinforcements (from Uganda, as planned in July; about 1,200 more men are to arrive, i.e. one fifth of the total present so far) may have convinced violent opponents of the Transitional Institutions not to further delay the escalation before a change in power relations becomes noticeable. This, despite being in the middle of the Ramadan, a fact that should have further postponed the attacks.

President Sheikh Sharif and several other members of the TFG had themselves repeatedly promised the beginning of a conquest of southern territories: hitherto a war of words and announcements, which seems to have entered an operational phase. The Government is, however, on the defensive. Wafula Wamunyinyi, the Deputy Special Representative of the African Union, had said on Monday that the situation in Mogadishu can “further deteriorate ” and renewed the invitation to the international community to support peacemaking efforts.

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