Garowe Online (Garowe)
3 December 2008
Government soldiers battled each other Wednesday in Somalia's capital, leaving at least two soldiers dead and several wounded.
Witnesses in Mogadishu told Puntland-based Radio Garowe that the fighting started after soldiers guarding the presidential compound Villa Somalia "threw rocks" at a passing convoy transporting Mogadishu's disputed mayor, Mohamed Osman "Dhagahtur."
"Dhagahtur's guards then opened fire," the witness said, adding that a battle erupted immediately.
Somalia's national police commander, Gen. Abdi Qeybdiid, rushed to the scene and reportedly helped diffuse tensions between the warring sides.
Mr. Qeybdiid and Mr. Dhagahtur held a closed-door meeting afterwards, but no reports emerged from that private conference.
It was the first incidence of violence between government forces who support President Abdullahi Yusuf or Prime Minister Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein.
The Somali leaders are entangled in a bitter feud, with Yusuf refusing to recognize Mr. Dhagahtur as Mogadishu mayor and rejecting a power-sharing deal Prime Minister Nur Adde signed with an opposition faction.
Somalia's interim government was established in 2004 but has been crippled by an anti-Ethiopia insurgency, leadership disputes and overt corruption.
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