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03/27/2006:

"Somalis Bury Dead, Brace for Battle"

MOGADISHU, Somalia, March 26 -- Radical Islamic militiamen and rivals buried their dead Sunday and brought in more fighters during a lull after four days of combat on the outskirts of Mogadishu, witnesses said. So far, at least 93 people have died and nearly 200 have been wounded in the violence.

A prominent moderate Islamic scholar appealed to the warring sides not to restart the fighting, which ranks among the deadliest in recent years in the nominal capital of this Horn of Africa country.

"I offer the warring sides a venue for them to talk to resolve their differences," Sharif Sheik Muhidin said.

Somalia has been without a working government for 15 years. The recent battles involve a militia supporting hard-line Islamic clerics who are trying to expand their influence and fighters loyal to businessmen and Somali warlords who have formed an alliance to oppose the religious movement.
washingtonpost.com