VZCZCXRO1160
OO RUEHDE RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNR #0951/01 1311404
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 111404Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9485
INFO RUCNSOM/SOMALIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CJTF HOA
RUZEFAA/CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RUZEFAA/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 000951 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR AF/E AND A/S CARSON 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER SO
 
SUBJECT: SOMALIA - FIGHTING ERUPTS IN MOGADISHU 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  In the worst fighting in months, on May 9-10 
Islamic extremists allied with Hisbul Islami clashed with 
Transitional Federal Government (TFG) troops and TFG-allied militias 
in Mogadishu.  Over 60 Somalis were killed, including civilians, and 
hundreds more injured and displaced.  Sporadic shelling reportedly 
continues in Mogadishu.  TFG officials say that TFG-allied 
former-Islamic Courts Union militias and their leaders, including 
Yusuf Mohamed "Indha Adde" defected to the Islamists during the 
fighting.  The government has lost control of the important 
Industrial Road area of Mogadishu.  TFG soldiers and police are 
holding defensive positions along Sodonka Road in the Hawl-Wadag and 
Wardhigley neighborhoods.  The Prime Minister told us the TFG will 
require more arms and ammunition in the days ahead, and asked us and 
the wider international community for help.  End Summary. 
¶2.  (SBU) On May 9-10, TFG-allied former Islamic Courts Union (ICU) 
militia clashed with al-Shabaab and Hisbul Islam (HI) forces in 
Mogadishu in the bloodiest fighting in months.  Over 60 Somalis were 
killed, including at least 20 civilians.  Scores were wounded and 
displaced.  According to media reports, sporadic mortar fire 
persists. 
¶3.  (SBU) By May 10 radical Islamists held swaths of the Wardhigley 
and Yaqshid districts hitherto under the control of the former ICU 
and Yusuf Mohamed "Indha Adde"-allied militia.  Al-Shabaab and HI 
now control the Industrial Road area from the former Ministry of 
Defense compound to the Pasta Factory.  According to several TFG 
sources al-Shabaab and allied militia now have full or partial 
control over six out of Mogadishu's 16 districts, up from five of 16 
as reported by TFG officials in March. 
¶4.  (SBU) After May 10's heavy fighting, the government withdrew the 
remaining loyal ICU militias into the city center to rally them, 
Security Minister Omar Hashi and Intelligence Chief Mohammed Sheikh 
told us on May 11.  They were replaced with 1,000 TFG soldiers and 
police, who blocked further al-Shabaab advances on May 10 at Ba'aad 
Market and in the vicinity of the Tafiq Hotel.  However, Minister 
Omar Hashi told us that these TFG forces had failed to retake ground 
during three counterattacks May 11, and were relegated to holding 
defensive positions along Sodonka Road spanning the Hawl-Wadag, 
Wardhigley and Yaqshid districts.  Prime Minister Omar Sharmarke 
joined Minister Hashi in reporting that the government will soon 
need arms and especially ammunition to bolster their 
counter-attacks.  Contrary to some media reports and al-Shabaab 
claims, AMISOM was not involved in the fighting. 
¶5.  (SBU) Some ICU forces loyal to the TFG defected to al-Shabaab, 
according to Minister Hashi and the Prime Minister.  Sources in 
Mogadishu told us Indha Adde first betrayed the TFG by provoking a 
clash with Hassan Dahir Aweys, a fellow Ayr clan member, without TFG 
approval on May 9 only to surrender to Aweys, giving up his heavy 
weaponry and militia.  According to TFG MP and former defense deputy 
minister Salad Ali Jelle (Hawiye/Habr Gedr) Indha Adde's Ayr militia 
and most of the Habr Gedr clan militia in TFG-allied ICU switched 
sides to join their former Islamist comrades.  That left only the 
Abgaal--president Sharif's clan -- and other mostly non-Habr Gedr 
ICU militia and original TFG military and police on the TFG's side. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Multiple sources tell us Al-Shabaab's fighters clearly 
included Middle Easterners, Asians, and non-Somali Africans. The 
self-proclaimed Banadir region al-Shabaab chief did not deny that 
foreign jihadists were taking part in the clashes.  He said "we do 
not distinguish between jihadists [and native Somalis], and we'll 
seek and accept support from our brothers whatever their 
nationality."  Unconfirmed reports indicate an estimated 400 foreign 
Jihadists are in Mogadishu, although that number may be inflated. 
¶7.  (SBU) These May 9-10 clashes erupted following a number of 
attempted and successful tit-for-tat assassinations involving 
al-Shabaab and the former ICU, the most recent on May 7, when the 
ICU attempted to kill a senior al-Shabaab commander on the outskirts 
of Mogadishu. 
¶8.  (U) President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on May 11 held a press 
conference at Villa Somalia to call for immediate cessation of 
hostilities.   The most important goal of his government is to avoid 
civilian casualties, he said.  President Sharif blamed unnamed 
foreign countries for supporting the current wave of violence.  He 
said people who have made violence a profession and a way of life 
are behind the conflicts in Somalia.  He reiterated his government's 
commitment to dialogue and reconciliation to spare Somalis from 
further suffering.  In a clear reference to Inda Adde, Sharif 
criticized those who have "broken their pledges and turned their 
back on peace." 
¶8.  (SBU) Comment:  As al-Shabaab did in Kismayo, Baidoa and Merka, 
it has taken advantage of local clan rivalries, in this case between 
 
NAIROBI 00000951  002 OF 002 
 
 
the Hawiye/Habr Gedr/Ayr and the Hawiye/Abgal, to score a military 
success.  TFG officials with whom we spoke said they were confident 
they could prevent further TFG advances, but would need weapons and 
ammunition soon.  We noted to Minister Hashi that AMISOM had the 
most ready supply of both.  He responded that AMISOM would need 
instructions to share them.  All of our contacts also cited the 
conspicuous presence of "foreign fighters," reportedly especially 
south Asians and combatants from the Middle East,in the fighting. 
End Comment. 
RANNEBERGER