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July 15, 2007

Violence Continues in Somalia Ahead of Reconciliation Conference
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1826DAD:A6F02AD83191E160AF70820DA1532EEC9574F7DCC14957C0 Witnesses say
grenades thrown at Ethiopian soldiers Saturday as they patrolled
neighborhood in Mogadishu Reports from Somalia say at least one person
is dead following a grenade attack in the latest violence ahead of a
peace conference scheduled for Sunday in the capital, Mogadishu.

Witnesses at the scene say grenades were thrown at Ethiopian soldiers
Saturday as they patrolled a neighborhood in the capital. The reports
say the soldiers returned fire. The number of casualties is not clear.







A Somali man with shrapnel wounds is carried to the hospital following
an explosion at Mogadishu's Bakara market, part of violence on eve of
the reconciliation conference, 14 July 2007 Reports indicate the city
is tense as more than 1,000 invited delegates, made up of Somali
tribal elders and warlords, arrive in the city for the peace
conference. Islamic insurgents have vowed to disrupt the meeting.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has sent wishes for a successful
beginning to the conference and called on opposition groups to
renounce the violence that has persisted in the capital.

Somalia's interim president, Abdullah Yusuf, vowed this week that no
amount of violence will derail the reconciliation talks.

Somali government troops supported by Ethiopian troops and African
Union peacekeepers have stepped up security measures in the city ahead
of the peace conference.

Assailants fired several mortars aimed at targets that included the
president's residence this week.  People inside the palace said the
shells did not hit any buildings in the compound.

Mogadishu has been plagued by violence since an alliance of interim
government forces and Ethiopian troops pushed an Islamist movement
from power in the capital late last year.  

Somalia has been mired in anarchy since warlords overthrew dictator
Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


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