By Abdi Sheikh
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least 53 people were killed inSomalia when Islamist insurgents clashed with Ethiopian troopsand Ugandan peacekeepers in separate battles, a human rightsgroup said on Wednesday.
The latest flare-up in the 18-month-old insurgency came aweek before a U.N.-mediated ceasefire between an Islamistfaction and the interim Somali government is to take effect.
The interim government and Ethiopia both declined commenton the clashes or any casualties.
Hardline Islamists have been waging an almost dailyIraq-style insurgency against the interim government and itsEthiopian backers since they were ousted from Mogadishu andmost of southern Somalia in 2007.
"A total of 47 people died yesterday in central Somalia andin the capital Mogadishu last night,"
Ahmed Sudan, chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman Peaceand Human Rights organisation, told Reuters 47 people werekilled on Tuesday and overnight in central Somalia andMogadishu. He said six more had since died of their wounds.
Sudan said 11 civilians were killed when Islamists ambushedEthiopian troops and Ugandan peacekeepers in the capitalMogadishu overnight, while dozens of others were wounded.
Another 36 people, including civilians and insurgents, werekilled when rebels struck an Ethiopian troop convoy in Mataban,410 km (255 miles) north of the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Among the dead on Tuesday were Moalim Farhan, commander ofthe militant group that attacked the convoy, and Abdullahi AliFarah, also known as Sheikh Aspro, a spokesman for theinsurgents told Reuters.
Aspro is deputy to hardline Islamist Sheikh Hassan DahirAweys, who is on U.S. and U.N. lists of al Qaeda associates.
"We buried 27 Somalis," shopkeeper Ismail Olad told Reutersfrom Mataban. "We do not know the number of Ethiopians killed."
Somalia has been mired in anarchy, functioning without acentral government since the fall of a dictator in 1991. Piracyhas become an increasing problem in its waters.
A Somali ship was hijacked on Sunday near El-Ma'an seaport, close to Mogadishu.
"The ship, MV Solsea, was on its way to tow another Somalifishing vessel which developed mechanical problems nearEl-Ma'an when pirates seized it," Andrew Mwangura, director ofthe Kenyan Seafarers Assistance Programme, told Reuters.
Three Germans are still held captive by Somali pirates in aforest near the Gulf of Aden in the northern Puntland region,while five Somalis working for an Italian aid agency, who wereseized on Monday, are still in captivity.
The U.N. children's agency UNICEF called on the world toact to avert famine in Somalia and other parts of the Horn ofAfrica. It said acute malnutrition rates in Somalia were nowabove 20 percent.
(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say onthe top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ )
(Reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu; Writing by GuledMohamed; Editing by Bryson Hull and Matthew Tostevin)
