Mogadishu, October 08: Two insurgent groups in Somalia said Wednesday they have resolved a violent dispute over the control of a key port city in the south of the country.
Militiamen from the Shebab group attacked Hezb al-Islam forces in the port town of Kismayo, some 500 kilometres (310 miles) south of Mogadishu early this week and overran the town.
The development laid bare a growing split between the two groups who united against a common enemy, the UN-backed Somali government and the African peacekeepers protecting it.
“After days of hard talks, the two brotherly groups have reached an accord that resolves the difference that caused the fighting in Kismayo,” Sheik Husein Fidow, a senior Shebab official, told reporters in Mogadishu.
“Under the agreement, both sides will respect an investigative committee that will find the root cause of the disagreement and the matter will be solved under the Islamic Sharia law,” he said.
Sheik Mohamed Moalim Ali, a Hezb al-Islam official in the capital, also confirmed the agreement which is meant to end the clashes.
The clashes between the two rebel groups erupted last week after Al-Shebab established an administration under its control in Kismayo, violating a deal under which the two sides rotated power between them.
The militias wrested control of Kismayo from the government in August 2008, but relations between them have soured in recent weeks owing to disputes over control of the town’s lucrative port.
Firmly under rebel control for more than year, Kismayo had been relatively quiet until the clashes erupted.
The Shebab has been taking extreme stances since it broke away from the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), who ruled much of Somalia with relative peace and prosperity until the Ethiopian invasion late 2006.
After the Ethiopian troops ousted the ICU, Somalia plunged into unprecedented chaos, where warlords and pirates have returned to the scene.
The US-backed Ethiopian troops in Somalia had resorted to throat-slitting executions and gruesome methods that include rape and torture.
As a result, the Shebab has become increasingly radicalised and has spearheaded an insurgency against the Somali government, whose president today is a former ICU leader.
Despite the Ethiopian withdrawal, it is unlikely that Somalis would soon be returning to the period of calm and security enjoyed under ICU rule.
The US and its allies in the region, who were not happy with the then relatively popular and stable ICU, will likely to face a non-negotiating force when dealing with the Shebab.
—Agencies