Agence France-Presse,
Shelling and tank fire rattled the Somali capital Wednesday as fighting between government-backed Ethiopian forces and Islamist guerrillas entered its second week, with hundreds already killed.
Meanwhile, the UN pleaded for access to bring aid to tens of thousands of displaced civilians, and talks between feuding sides aimed at reaching a ceasefire failed.
Human rights workers monitoring the death toll said eight civilians were killed, bringing the death toll to at least 329 people, mostly civilians and insurgents, in the latest clashes, three weeks after similar battles claimed at least 1,000 lives.
After a relatively quiet night, Ethiopian tanks rumbled through northern Mogadishu Wednesday, firing shells in a bid to wipe out determined Islamist and clan fighters who have frustrated the transitional government's efforts to exert its control.
The insurgents, often shifting their defence positions, responded with machine-gun fire and mortar shells on the eighth day of artillery duels.
The Somali government claimed to be making progress against the insurgency that has paralysed the capital, the epicentre of bloodshed since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre sparked a bloody power struggle.
“Most areas frequented by terrorists have been overrun in the past week,” government spokesman Hussein Mohamed Mohamud told AFP.
Witnesses said mortar shells hit Mogadishu's SOS children's hospital Wednesday, where dozens of wounded civilians are being treated, but there were no casualties.
As battles continued, talks between Ethiopian commanders and elders from Mogadishu's dominant Hawiye clan, to which most insurgents belong, failed to hammer out a truce after both sides disagreed on the definition of rebel fighters.
“We reached no agreement. They (Ethiopians) are saying they are fighting terrorists … but we are saying they are clan militias and not terrorists,” elder Mohamed Hasan Haad told AFP. Another meeting is scheduled for Thursday.
Previous ceasefire agreements have, however, been violated.
In New York, the United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes pressed the Somali government, accused of failing to cooperate with humanitarian teams, to allow access for aid deliveries to those displaced.
He said aid groups have been blocked from using airstrips outside Mogadishu and the World Food Programme (WFP) denied clearance to deliver food to tens of thousands camped under trees in Afgoye, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) south west of capital.
“I hope that position is now changing,” Holmes told reporters at the United Nations late Tuesday after briefing the UN Security Council on Somalia.
Holmes said UN officials had secured a pledge from the government not to block humanitarian operations.
Dozens of rotting corpses remained abandoned in and around the capital and Mogadishu doctors appealed for supplies to help save the wounded.
Meanwhile, residents continued their exodus from the city to join thousands in makeshift camps outside the city.
The UN refugee agency said last week that more than 321,000 people had fled the seaside capital since February 1, but elders told AFP the figure could now be more than 400,000.
“We are getting reports that people have started dying in the camps because of squalid conditions — they are starving, with no water, food or medicine,” said Sudan Ali Ahmed, chairman of the Elman Peace and Human Rights Organisation which monitors casualty rates.
“These people should just stop fighting.”
