Somalia: somali government, insurgents vow escalation

Somalia's embattled government and Islamist rebels vowed on Friday to step up their war with the government promising a counter-offensive while the Shebab militia threatened to take fighting beyond Somalia's borders.

Speaking a day after an insurgent attack against the presidency in Mogadishu sparked clashes that left at least 21 civilians dead, Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke said tide was turning in the conflict.

"We're very confident that our forces will recapture the town (Mogadishu)," he told reporters in Nairobi after a meeting with UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe.
The western-backed transitional administration headed by President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed controls less than half of Mogadishu and owes its survival largely to the protection of African Union peacekeepers.

Sharmarke stressed that the government would seek to reassert control over southern Somalia, which has been firmly under insurgent control since last year.

Full article: Google News