Somalia President Reported Toppled in Ethnic Fighting
President Ali Mahdi Mohamed of Somalia was reportedly overthrown Monday after two days of ethnic fighting between rival forces of the ruling United Somali Congress that seized power 10 months ago.
Diplomats and aid workers, quoting reports on state-run Radio Mogadishu, said that clan rival Gen. Mohamed Farrah Aidid had toppled Mahdi. The reports could not be independently confirmed.
The radio also was quoted as saying there had been an undetermined number of casualties and that the whereabouts of Mahdi remain unknown.
Somalia is a poor, mostly Muslim nation of 6 million residents on the Horn of Africa.
Nearly all telecommunications to Somalia were severed during street fighting in January that ended President Mohamed Siad Barre’s 21-year rule. Up to 20,000 people reportedly died in those battles.
Since then, Mahdi’s government has failed to extend its control beyond the capital, and Somalia’s south remained riven by ethnic feuds. The north has been peaceful.
Fighting reportedly broke out Sunday and again Monday morning between ethnic forces loyal to Mahdi, 52, and those of Aidid, who is about 60 and is chairman of the ruling party.
Two sources in Nairobi said Aidid and his supporters took over the radio station Monday and that fighting had subsided by the afternoon.
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