Calm returns to Somalia

Mogadishu - An uneasy calm returned to the southern Somali port town of Kismayo on Tuesday after at least 16 people died during two days of fierce fighting between rivals militias that controlled this lawless region, said witnesses.

The reports said the clashes ended overnight on Monday after forces loyal to Juba Valley Alliance (JVA) commander Barre Aden Shire "Hirale" overran those loyal to one his top officers, Abdi Egal Residents.

Ali Abdi, a doctor in the poorly staffed and stocked Kismayo hospital, said: "So far, we have a death toll of 16 people and some 47 wounded."

He said: "The number may go much higher when those wounded who fled come for treatment", adding that most of injured were civilians caught in the middle of heavy gun, rocket and anti-aircraft fire that began on Sunday night in Kismayo, about 500km south of Mogadishu.

High-risk region

Abdi said: "We don't have enough drugs or proper equipment to save lives", recalling that most relief agencies had long since pulled out of the high-risk region.

The reports said hundreds of residents who fled on Monday were returning to the town, the capital of the Somalia's Lower Juba region.

Town residents said the fighting was the result of a power struggle within the JVA leadership pitting Hirale against Egal.

Somalia had been wracked by chronic unrest with warlords and rival militias fighting for control of unruly fiefdoms that sprung up after the 1991 ouster of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre.

Southern Somalia, along with neighbouring regions in Kenya and Ethiopia, was facing a harsh drought that had left more than one million people at risk of famine.