Somali Independence Day marked by explosions

July 1, 2007 (MOGADISHU) — Early morning explosions marked Somalia’s Independence Day in the capital Mogadishu Sunday. Leaders called for an end to the fighting that has claimed hundreds of lives and prevented the government from taking control of the country.

The three explosions at midnight didn’t cause any injuries but were a reminder of the clan and political violence that has made the capital one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Later Sunday, a land mine exploded near a group of government soldiers, but there were no casualties.

Members of Mogadishu’s dominant clan, the Hawiye, and Islamic radicals oppose the interim government, and militants launch almost daily attacks against government forces, Ethiopian troops who protect them and African Union peacekeepers.

“I call for the ones who are against the government to refrain from the violence and the killing of innocent people and join the common endeavor for peace and stability in our country,” President Abdullahi Yusuf said during a ceremony in Mogadishu.

The day marks when southern Somalia became independent from Italy in 1960. The region joined with two other regions, Puntland and Somaliland, to form Somalia.

The country hasn’t had an effective central government since 1991, when clan militias overthrew President Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other. Somaliland has declared independence and Puntland is semiautonomous, while a weak, U.N.-backed government struggles with an Islamic insurgency for control of the southern part of the country.

Many Somalis resent the government’s dependence on Ethiopian troops for security.

“I do not think this day deserves commemoration, it is a dark day. The colonialists we fought for our independence, like Ethiopia, are again colonizing us and have troops on our soil,” Mohamed Muqtar Abdi, a 67-year-old resident, said.

(AP)