Al Shabab has banned most international aid groups from working inits territory, despite the ongoing effects of last year s famineand threats of further severe hunger after failed crops this year. The Afgoye corridor holds one of the biggest concentrations ofinternally displaced people in the world, said Wafula Wamunyinyi,who heads the AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM . We are helping them by building security so that they can sharein the economic revival of the capital. They will now be able toaccess humanitarian services and eventually return to theiroriginal homes in Mogadishu. Mogadishu has seen its longest period of peace in many yearsrecently, since the AU contingent made up mostly of Ugandan and Burundian soldiers forced Al Shabab from the capital lastyear. Where once there were daily mortar and small-arms battlesalong frontlines running down the city s main streets, now it israre to hear sustained gunfire. Businesses are starting, markets are flourishing, and schools andclinics are reopening. But there are still regular suicide attacks by bombers sent by AlShabab, including one last month at the newly reopened SomaliNational Theater, which killed 10 people. Many of those attackers are believed to come from the area aroundAfgoye, and AU commanders hope that Tuesday s offensive, which islikely to last several days, will force them further fromMogadishu s outskirts. But there were concerns that fighting insuch a crowded area could lead to ordinary people being caught upin the conflict, or Islamist fighters melting into the population. One aid worker in Nairobi , capital of neighboring Kenya , warned, however, that taking the battle to Al Shabab where therewere so many civilians living in flimsy shelters was a substantialrisk. It could be truly dreadful if Shabab pull back into the[internally displaced people s] camps and start launching theirfightback from there, she said, refusing to give her name ororganization because she was not authorized to talk to the media. It s true that we need to reach those people, it s a desperatesituation there. But it will be a disaster if people we need totreat for malnutrition suddenly really need treating for gunshots,mortar wounds, or other battlefield injuries. Lt. Gen. Andrew Gutti, AMISOM s force commander, said that theattack had been designed to minimize the harm to thepopulation. During this joint operation AMISOM is taking every precaution toprevent harm or injury to civilians, he said. We will onlyfight when attacked by the Al Shabab terrorists. We ask thepopulation of the Afgoye corridor to continue to stay in theirplaces of residence, avoid unnecessary travel on main roads, andnot to stray far from their homes. Abdisamad Moalim Mohamoud, Somalia s interior minister, said lateTuesday that government forces had made a great achievement during the first day of the offensive, taking the towns ofGarasbaley and Daynile from Al Shabab. But Islamist commander Sheikh Fuad Mohamed Khalaf told Mogadishu sRadio Al Andalus that the crusade forces from Burundi and Uganda and their Somali puppets launched an offensive, theywere pushed back, they were given a lesson enough. They left bodies and destroyed military trucks, we will show themto the media later today, he added. Eyewitnesses, however, said that they had seen at least five deadAl Shabab fighters, and one casualty from the government forces. Al Shabab was pushed back, they lost a good distance to thegovernment forces, I saw five of their bodies, the governmentforces were kicking them, said Osman Hilibi, who lives close toGarasbaley. --Abukar Albadri contributed reporting from Mogadishu. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Pluggable Terminal Block Connector , Screw Terminal Block Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Spring Terminal Connector today!
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