A rebel group in Ethiopia’s southeastern Somali region has agreed to lay down arms after decades of guerrilla war, Communications Minister Bereket Simon announced Friday.

Leaders of the United Western Somali Liberation Front (UWSLF) had, after talks with the government, “accepted totally to abide by the constitution of Ethiopia and operate legally and abandon the armed struggle,” Bereket told a press conference.

“We expect these leaders to appear here soon to explain how they will operate in the Ethiopian legal atmosphere,” Bereket said, hailing a step that “will help the stability and peace” in the region also known as Ogaden.

The News:
http://www.shabelle. … ews.asp?NewsID=12644

The death toll from yesterday’s fighting between government forces backed by AU peacekeepers and Islamist militants in Mogadishu has risen to 30, reports independent Shabelle website.

More than 100 people are said to have been injured in the fighting, most of them civilians, after mortar shells landed in civilian neighbourhoods in Mogadishu’s Holwadaag, Hodan, Yaaqshiid, Wardhiigley, Hiliwaa and Bakaaraha Market.

An emergency ambulance service group official, Ali Muse Shaykh told Shabeelle that the fighting has caused huge losses and that they transported about 80 injured people to Mogadishu’s Madina Hospital.

The News:
http://www.markacade … 2010/20100413_2e.htm

Evidence of the massacre of at least 321 people in Democratic Republic of Congo has been uncovered by the BBC.

The killings took place last December but have not previously been reported.

Fighters from the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army raided several villages in a remote part of north-eastern DR Congo, killing and abducting children.

Human Rights Watch says this is one of the worst massacres carried out by the LRA, whose fighters roam across several countries after spreading from Uganda.

The News:
http://news.bbc.co.u … i/africa/8587305.stm

Reports reaching us from Doblai District in Lower Juba Region, southern Somalia have confirmed that heavy fighting has erupted between Hisb al-fighters led by Shaykh Ahmad Madobe and those of al-Shabaab Islamic Movement.

Residents have confirmed that they heard sounds of heavy artilleries used by the two sides. Sources say that Hisb al-Islam fighters attacked the bases of al-Shabaab Islamic Movement bases in Doblai town. Casualties resulting from the fighting remain unclear.

The News:
http://www.markacade … 2010/20100320_1e.htm

Somalia’s government has signed a peace agreement with the militant group, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaca (ASWJ.) This agreement comes before the Transitional Government launches an expected military offensive against the hardliner militant group, al-Shabaab.

Sheikh Mohamed Dahir Hefow, the militia’s leader, signed the deal with Somali Finance Minister Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden at a ceremony held at the African Union’s headquarters in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. This deal offers the militant group senior government positions in return for their military support against al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam. The agreement gives the Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaca militia five cabinet positions as well as diplomatic posts and senior positions within the police and intelligence services.

The News:
http://somalilandpre … h-somali-government/
http://www.campoanti … omalia-cat&Itemid=62

Somali government troops have made its initial advance into the rebel-held areas in the north of Mogadishu in a heavy fighting that left 37 more dead and injured 113, officials, witnesses said.

Witnesses said government troops with the help of the African union have crossed into the insurgency-racked district Karan. Soldiers appear to have encountered lighter than expected resistance from the Alshabaab who were reported to have entrenched in the nearby areas and mined the roadways.

‘’I have seen 18 dead al-Shabaab fighters lying on one street and 5 government soldiers’’ Resident Fadumo Osman told Somalilandpress by phone from Karan.

The News:
http://somalilandpre … positions-37-killed/

Reports reaching our service desk indicate that Ethiopian militiamen based around the towns of Dig, Jarar Province and Fardhiig, Qorahay province destroyed the most houses of the two towns and the property within it.

This illegal action happened on February 2nd and February 20th 2010 respectively. It has been reported that Ethiopian militia forces encircled the towns and firebombed a gas or petrol station located within one of the most populated sections of the towns.

The News:
http://www.ogaden.co … g-ogaden-towns-.html