Mogadishu, Somalia – Clashes between Islamic militias and secular fighters eased in the Somali capital Sunday as the sides mostly observed an informal truce after eight days of fighting killed at least 142 people.
The warring sides were to meet with mediators – including clan elders and politicians – later Sunday to try to stop the fighting, said Hussein Gutale Ragheh, a spokesman for the secular Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counterterrorism.
The alliance has been fighting the rival Islamic Court Union militias.
Islamic Court Union chairman Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed said Sunday that Islamic militias were “observing a unilateral cease-fire,” but Ahmed’s previous promises of a truce have not stopped the fighting.
His rivals said the Islamic fighters were the main obstacle to peace.
“They are the real controllers of the war – they start when they want, and they cease when they want,” Ragheh said.
Fighting in Somalia traditionally has been largely along clan lines and has been economically motivated, but the current battle appears to be ideological – over whether Somalia should be governed by Islamic law.
Mogadishu residents described it as the worst fighting in more than a decade of lawlessness.
