Clan Battles Drive Thousands From Somali City

Clan battles drove up to 5,000 people out of the southern port of Kismayu, and a grenade blast forced aid agencies Saturday to pull all foreign staff out of a central Somali town for the first time in two years.

The battles in Kismayu, gateway to the fertile south, were the worst in six months.

U.N. officers see the port as a prime flash point for renewed civil war with the pullout of U.S. troops and their Western allies from Somalia by March 31.

They said militiamen loyal to Mohamed Siad Hirsi, who goes by the nom de guerre Gen. Morgan, drove up to 5,000 Ogadeni sub-clan civilians out of the Kismayu area in 90 minutes of battles Friday.

A U.N. military spokesman said a total of seven people were killed and 42 were wounded in fighting between Morgan’s forces and supporters of rival warlord Omar Jess, who was routed from the town in March last year.

Kismayu was quiet but tense Saturday with civilians and aid workers staying indoors. Aid workers who left Saturday said violence was expected to resume after forces regrouped.

Aid officials believe the Kismayu fighting is a prelude to more clashes as clans jockey for position to fill a power vacuum caused by the withdrawal of the U.S. and Western units.

U.N. officials said the battles were sparked by an attack Thursday by warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid’s Somali National Alliance (SNA) militia on a Morgan camp in Bulo Xaaji, 50 miles southwest of Kismayu.