MOGADISHU (Garowe Online) – At least four soldiers with the Ethiopian Woyanne armed forces deployed in Somalia were killed Saturday after their water truck was ambushed by suspected insurgents, witnesses said.
The group of attackers used assault rifles during the ambush, which caught the Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers “by surprise,” according to one witness.
“The water truck was heading back to Ethiopian Woyanne base at the pasta factory,” said the witness in north Mogadishu, who counted the dead bodies.
Other witnesses corroborated the death toll.
The surviving Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers returned gunfire targeting the Somali rebels, but no one was hurt and the rebels escaped.
Another witness said he fled the area immediately for fear of being arrested by Ethiopian Woyanne army reinforcements, who arrived on the scene moments later and pulled the water truck and their dead soldiers from the attack location.
There were other acts of violence in Mogadishu today, including an explosion and an attempted assassination of a local government official.
A landmine exploded in south Mogadishu’s Hodan district Saturday morning, wounding at least three Somali civilians.
The landmine was intended to target a government patrol as it drove by, but missed its target and injured the civilian bystanders, witnesses said.
“I saw the [Somali] soldiers arrest several people, but other people ran away [from arrest],” said a witness describing the scene.
A source at Mogadishu police headquarters told Garowe Online that the explosion originated from a remotely-detonated device, often used by the insurgents.
An attempt to kill local government official Abdulle Ahmed Muse failed last night and the official is “recovering” at the hospital, according to Wadajir District Commissioner Ahmed Daa’i.
Mr. Muse was standing in front of his home in Wadajir when the attackers opened fire and wounded him before fleeing.
No government soldiers came to aid the wounded official, locals said. But neighbors helped tend to Mr. Muse’s gunshot wounds.
Somalia’s capital has seen little respite from violence in the past 14 months, as Islamist-led insurgents continue their bloody guerrilla campaign to oust the interim government and its Ethiopian Woyanne military backers from power in Mogadishu.
More than 6,000 civilians have been killed in violence, including countless government officials assassinated by the rebels. The United Nations says half of Mogadishu’s population has fled the seaside capital and some UN officials consider Somalia to be Africa’s worst humanitarian crisis.
5 thoughts on “Four Woyanne soldiers killed in Mogadishu ambush”
let them burn what are they doing in some body’s home.
The killing of Prisoners of war is murder, a criminal act that must be punished. The one thing I’ll say about
Shaebia is that they respect the law.
Sirak,
But look where “Respecting the law” is placing the EPLF. They have been acused of being against Ethiopian unity which of course they are not, they have been accused of hating Ethiopians which they never did and now they are being accused of obstructing the peace which of course that is meant to protect the disgraceful Weyane.
What is worrisome is the most disgraceful unprovoked invasion of Somalia by the Zenawi forces;the despicable legacy of atrocities by these invadors will haunt future generations of Ethiopia for eternity. It is a permanent damage done to the image of Ethiopia which has never been an aggressor but a victim of repeated aggression. The Zenawi soldiers deservedly died in vain at a place where they should not have been in the first place.
Zenawi: The pre-eminent obstacle to democracy
By Melaku Assefa | February 23, 2008
——————————————————————————–
“And eger Berbré menkel aktoachu Anddo leblebo akatlo yifjachehu.”- a breaved mother.
The above satire is attributed to a wailing mother in anguish. It spontaneously sprang out of her deeply wounded heart at the dirge for her only son who was killed by the security forces of the ruling Monarch (1855 to 1868). The Monarch is blamed for his erratic short tempers that led to violations of human rights casting aspersion on his admired bravery and genuine aspiration for a united, strong and modern Ethiopia. It is said that he was born ahead of his time and that few shared his vision for Ethiopia, which is true in that followers need to know where the leader is taking them in order to cooperate. He wanted to usher in science and technology for the development of the country. Many argue that his abuse of human rights has to be seen in the context of the backward era.
The satire is admirably a powerful message concealed in analogy. It roughly translates: Since you are unable to uproot one chili plant, let it burn and annihilate you. The bereaved mother in agony put the blame for the atrocities squarely on the Monarch as well as on his subjects for their failure to prevent the atrocities by evicting him from power. The lady back then saw that the governed have responsibility to shape the behavior of their rulers.
It is a grim reality that Ethiopians have for long failed to rise in unison to disclaim their despotic rulers. It is gratifying however that a historic beginning was made at the polls of 15 May 2005 where Zenawi was rejected in a referendum. But he clung to power due to the support of the Bush administration and the parochial views of liberation movements with secessionist agenda that rendered forging a strong united opposition front impossible. That referendum also rejected liberation movements despite the face-saving futile effort of their leaders to explain it away as a fluke. The truth, however, is that that election, for the first time in the millennium years of our history, signaled the birth of a new great idea for peaceful succession of political power. This great idea proved to be an invincible weapon to the ruthless security forces under the direct command of Zenawi. Judging from its vehement stance to kill the undying HR2003, the idea proved to be potent and frightening to the ruling thugs. It is indeed a working idea whose time has come. In the words of Victor Hugo:
“An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.”
The recent incisive article by Dr. Selam Beyene entitled “Oppression in Tigrai” contains a stunning revelation. This insightful article, which was posted on Ethiomedia website on 19 February 2008, revealed a genuine document of the election results of the historic election of 15 May 2005. The document shows that the main opposition CUDP (Kinijit) won 228, EPRDF won 160, UEDF won 88 and the rest of the small contestants won 71 out of the total of 547 parliamentary seats. This document is a priceless treasure constituting humiliating evidence against vote robbers in broad daylight. It is an embarrassment to the foreign donors who kept squandering taxpayer’s monies of their respective countries in supporting the thugs despite the evidence. It is reasonable to assume that these donors ignored this damning evidence and brought their moral integrity into question. On the other hand, it is a glowing tribute to patriotic Ethiopians who had brought this invaluable document to the public at the risk of their lives.
The document is even more humiliating evidence to the African Union, which declared the election free and fair. It is humiliating evidence to the Rwandan Representative to the AU Commission who publicly put the blame on the opposition for the state-sponsored violence that erupted in the aftermath of the election. The Representative forgot the close to one million martyrs of the 1994 genocide that took place due to undemocratic governance in his own country; he sacrificed truth for the sake of luxurious life that Addis Ababa provides for diplomats that are paid in convertible currencies.
It is only a matter of time that corrupt and inept African leaders will be swept out of the political scene. The wind of change across the African continent of which Prime Minister McMillan spoke in 1960 has began blowing for the second time and is gathering momentum to sweep away greedy African rulers and their paymasters engaged in the new scramble for Africa in order to control its vast natural resources. There is a simmering massive force of young Africans and principled pundits of the continent that are aware of the looming danger, and waiting for another Nkrumah to spur them into action.
The sun is setting on the reign of the Bush administration and therefore that support for Zenawi will go away due to the remarkably surging demand for change in the United States, including reversing its globally tarnished image and the clarion call for revival of its once envied moral leadership as a beacon of individual liberty and freedom. This call for change is good for the world because the most powerful nation on earth will have a single standard in its relations with violators of human rights, vote riggers and robbers. Ultimately however, it is up to us Ethiopians to pay the required sacrifices, no matter how painful, to get rid off dictatorship.
As is seen from its high-level intervention in the aftermath of the recent Kenyan election, it seems that the Bush administration is reeling from its grave mistake in its continued support for the EPRDF regime despite daylight robbery of votes and gruesome atrocities by the latter following its crushing defeat in the historic Ethiopian election of 15 May 2005 internationally acknowledged as exemplary pace-setter for Africa. It is a good thing that Secretary Rice had to fly all the way to Nairobi to dictate terms to the Kibaki government to share power with opposition. She did so barely a couple of months after she publicly, in Addis Ababa, told the world that her administration is opposed to HR2003, Ethiopian Democracy and Accountability Act, which was unanimously approved by the exalted House of Representatives of the United States Congress. Had Secretary Rice taken the same stand as she now did in the aftermath of the Kenyan election against the Zenawi regime, more than one thousand Kenyans would not have died, three hundred thousand would not have been internally displaced, thousands would not have sought refuge in neighboring countries, the burgeoning tourism business would not have suffered.
Zenawi is ranked as #15 among 20 top violators of human rights. This comparative standing does not mean much to those who have felt the brunt of his atrocities. He is number one evil dictator to:
families of the 193 martyrs and tens of thousands incarcerated in the aftermath of the historic election;
families of Anuak victims of genocide;
landless peasants toiling in his serfdom;
all Ethiopians, except his cronies, who are denied access to free information;
students denied academic freedom in tertiary institutions; and
citizens concerned with his absolute control over all pillars of democracy.
Pro-democracy and pro-unity forces engaged in the struggle have time on their side: to advance the just cause for peaceful succession of political power; to bring Zenawi to the negotiating table through massive civil disobedience; to force the amendment of the present EPRDF Constitution, which was imposed on the Ethiopian people; to take advantage of the phenomenal surge for change in the USA to get HR2003 passed by the Senate; to listen the utterance of the bereaved mother and act in unison to ensure that rulers are not above the law and that they serve by consent of the people.
Ethiopians have no one to blame but themselves if they fail to reign in the one person who is the singular source of injustice and regional instability. That person is Zenawi.
This writer in his capacity as independent citizen not affiliated to any political party once renews his pledge to contribute financially, materially or otherwise to the best of his ability for the cause of advancing the momentum for peaceful for change.
Let there be hatred, bigotry and mistrust no more!
Long Live Ethiopia!