At least seventy Somalis have died in violent clashes which began last Wednesday. Reports from Somalia indicate that the Islamic militias have begun talks with a group of warlords and businessmen on a permanent Somali government.
The group of businessmen and warlords formed an armed alliance last month, to curb the Islamists’ growing power.
The Somali Islamic fighters support a group of radical clerics who have recently tried to assert themselves as an alternative military and political force in Somalia. The country has had no effective government since 1991, when warlords ousted a dictatorship and then turned on each other.
Following the weekend assault on the strategic Al-Ma’an port, the Islamic militia now has control of most of the capital, Mogadishu.