2008-05-17 09:27:51 -

 

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Islamist fighters in Somalia have seized a town that is a major agricultural center overnight, impelling hundreds of refugees to flee, a human rights leader said Saturday.
Ali Bashi, of Fanole rights group, said the Islamic Courts Union ousted militiamen loyal to Somalia's fragile government from Jilib and were patrolling the

Two militia fighters were killed and three others were wounded in the fighting, he said, citing reports from his office in Jilib.
Hundreds of refugees were streaming out of the town Saturday.
«These people already had fled from fighting in Mogadishu and today again were forced to flee because they fear more violence,» Bashi told The Associated Press in a telephone call from southern Kismayo town. Jilib had a population of about 5,000 before the influx of refugees.
The town is in a volatile area where two foreign U.N. contractors were abducted months ago. The Briton and Kenyan still are missing.
Somalia's weak U.N.-backed government has been struggling to quash a re-emerging Islamist insurgency. In December 2006, neighboring Ethiopia sent troops that still are propping up the government. Thousands of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands forced from their homes in a burgeoning humanitarian crisis.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since 1991, when clan warlords ousted longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on each other, creating chaos in the Horn of Africa nation.
Islamist insurgents have intensified attacks since a U.S. airstrike May 1 killed the alleged al-Qaida leader in Somalia.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Thursday calling for a U.N. political presence in Somalia for the first time in years and said it would consider deploying U.N. peacekeepers to replace African Union troops, if there is improved political reconciliation and security.
But yet another round of peace talks ended in Djibouti on Friday with no more than an agreement to meet again May 31. U.N. negotiators failed to organize direct talks between the government and the biggest opposition alliance, which supports the Islamist insurgency.
The Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia said it would not be involved in direct talks until the government agrees to a timetable for Ethiopian troops to withdraw. Without Ethiopian support, it is feared the government would fall.