Somalia offers amnesty to militants in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia offered an amnesty to militants still fighting in the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, three days after the country's president declared victory over the insurgent al Shabaab group, which has withdrawn most of its combatants from the city.

It was the first time the interim government, which has struggled to quash a four-year Islamist rebellion, had offered immunity to al Shabaab fighters.

"The Transitional Federal Government of Somalia has offered a general amnesty to insurgent fighters remaining in Mogadishu who give themselves up and renounce violence," the government said in a statement.

Some experts say al Shabaab's pull-out merely extends the government's hold on the capital by a few districts, but will do little to bring tangible peace to the rest of the anarchic country and may herald a new wave of al Qaeda-inspired attacks.

The amnesty did not appear to extend to al Shabaab fighters outside the capital. The al Qaeda-affiliated militants control much of southern Somalia where 2.8 million people face starvation because of drought and conflict.

Al Shabaab called its retreat from Mogadishu tactical and said its bloody struggle to topple the Western-backed government would continue.

On Monday afternoon, a suicide car bomb detonated prematurely 13 km south of Mogadishu, and Captain Ndayiragije Come, a spokesman for the African Union (AU) peace keeping force, AMISOM, said it was heading to the capital.

Gun-battles raged overnight in at least two northern districts of Mogadishu and residents said government forces and al Shabaab also traded volleys of mortar rounds.

Mohamed Abdullah, who lives in Mogadishu's Hosh neighbourhood, said the militants, who want to impose a strict interpretation of Sharia law on the famine-stricken population, launched an assault on two government military bases.

"We weren't expecting such attacks from al Shabaab now. Clearly the group is still present and still have some power," Abdullah told Reuters.

President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed arrived in Tanzania on Tuesday and was expected to hold talks with President Jakaya Kikwete.

There were no details on what the two leaders would discuss.

Ahmed has already visited Uganda, whose forces form the backbone of the African peacekeeping mission in Somalia, and Djibouti to stress the importance of delivering aid within Somalia to stem the exodus of refugees to Kenya and Ethiopia.

Aid agencies blame al Shabaab for blocking the distribution of emergency aid in territories they command. Thousands of Somali refugees continue streaming into Mogadishu searching for food and protection.

(Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by James Macharia)