Africa News of Friday, 19 February 2021
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
Gunfire and rockets exploded on Friday in Mogadishu as Somali government forces clashed with protesters angered by delayed elections, hours after fighters loyal to the government and to the political opposition exchanged gunfire.
Video sent to Reuters from an anti-government demonstration showed civilians in facemasks waving Somali flags scattering as gunfire erupted. Reuters journalists nearby could hear intermittent gunfire as well as heavier explosions.
“Many forces heavily attacked us, I am now on my chest in an alley. This is a massacre,” protester Farah Omar told Reuters by phone.
The spillover of political rivalries into open conflict will dismay Somalia’s allies and play into the hands of the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgency, which mounts attacks on civilians around East Africa in its bid to install strict Islamic law.
Prominent opposition figure Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame Wadajir had earlier posted a video of himself leading a small crowd of protesters into the street, in defiance of a government ban on demonstrations.
BREAKING: Gunfire breaks out as former PM @HassanAKhaire is seen leading protesters at the airport road. pic.twitter.com/AXCl5wBuIA
— Harun Maruf (@HarunMaruf) February 19, 2021