Summaries here and here and here.

Tossing around the talismanic “T” word:

Allegations that humanitarian operations fuel insurgency in the Somali capital Mogadishu by the city’s mayor have been slammed as “irresponsible” by a minister in the fragile transitional government as analysts expressed concern.

Mayor Mohamed Umar Habeb (better known as Mohamed Dheere) told the local media on 20 August that the international community was feeding what he termed as “terrorists” and warned that they would have to deal with the consequences.

Minister of Justice Hassan Dhimbil Warsame told IRIN: “To say not to give food to the [displaced] people, most of them women and children, in these camps and call them terrorists is irresponsible. He is not fit to be the mayor of Mogadishu.”

[snip]

A regional analyst based in the Kenyan capital Nairobi said the humanitarian community was very concerned that a Transitional Federal Government (TFG) official should make such hostile statements. “People displaced by the violence in Mogadishu are victims of a political conflict and this statement clearly sends the wrong message about their status and how they should be treated,” he said.

[snip]

Civil society members in Mogadishu also raised concerns over the mayor’s statement. “We are disappointed by his utterances but not surprised,” one source said. “To call them terrorists is not only irresponsible but dangerous.” Article

Suffering fools: Banishing hunger and disease and announcing utopia may take a teensy bit longer.

Somali Interior Minister Mohammed Mohammoud Guled on Wednesday vowed to wipe out insurgency in the country’s restive capital Mogadishu which has been rocked by fierce violence since the Islamic courts were routed from the city early this year.

Addressing a news conference in Nairobi, Guled said some 4,500 newly-trained government soldiers would pacify the city in the next 20 days. Article

Noted FYI:

Hoping to open an embassy in chaotic Mogadishu, Kenya’s acting envoy to Somalia said on Wednesday the Horn of Africa country has all the potential to be a top tourist destination despite 16 years of violence.

Ken Vitisia, who is in Mogadishu waiting to present his papers to President Abdullahi Yusuf, also urged other African nations to consider reviving diplomatic ties with Somalia and send their troops to help restore peace.

[snip]

The east African country, which closed its embassy in Mogadishu in 1991, would be the second nation after Ethiopia to re-open its mission since the interim Somali government, backed by Ethiopian soldiers, seized Mogadishu from former Islamist rulers at the end of 2006.

Libya and Sudan had embassies operating in the city already.

Mogadishu remains one of the world’s most dangerous cities, with Islamist rebels and clan militia fighting a guerrilla war against government troops and their Ethiopian military allies.

“I do not expect my embassy to be barricaded. It will be open to all,” the Kenyan said. Article