Somali attacks kill 5, Islamist opposes peace force

MOGADISHU, Feb 2 (Reuters) A senior Islamist leader today rejected the prospect of African peacekeepers for Somalia, as fresh violence in the capital killed five civilians and underscored the continued threat in the war-ravaged country.

Resident Adey Malim Nur confirmed both his sons were killed in mortar attacks late yesterday. Three others were previously known to have died from the attack near the presidential palace.

''My older son was standing outside the house when a mortar hit him in the stomach, my other son was inside,'' Nur said.

The Somali government said those behind the attack were probably militants from the Islamist movement ousted from Mogadishu after a six-month rule of most of south Somalia.

''It's possible a few of the Islamist remnant trouble-makers were behind the attacks,'' Information Minister Al Ahmed Jama said.

Government forces backed by Ethiopia's military routed the Islamists in a two-week war over Christmas and New Year.

Yesterday's assault, mortar bombs and rockets struck parts of the sea port, near the Villa Somalia palace where President Abdullahi Yusuf stays, and hit homes nearby.

It was the latest in a string of assassinations and strikes -- including on Ethiopian military convoys and bases, and a mortar attack on Villa Somalia -- since the war.

Most casualties have been civilians.

UN HELP The violence has underlined the challenges facing Yusuf's government in its efforts to establish central rule in Somalia for the first time since 1991 when the ouster of a dictator turned the Horn of Africa nation into a byword for anarchy.

The African Union (AU) is struggling to build a peacekeeping force for Somalia before Ethiopian troops leave.

But many African nations are nervous about sending soldiers to one of the world's most dangerous countries.

Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a senior Islamist leader released in Nairobi this week after surrendering to Kenyan authorities on the border, rejected the deployment of international forces.

''Peace does not come by force...but by conducting talks and serious negotiations,'' he told Al Jazeera TV.

Washington views Ahmed as a moderate who could be key to national reconciliation in turbulent Somalia.

''The problem cannot be resolved by international forces because what has happened was an invasion, and following up on that with international forces would further complicate the crisis,'' Ahmed added. ''How can we accept it?'' Since their defeat, the Islamists have scattered to southern Somalia, and across to Kenya, some vowing a long guerrilla war.

In Nairobi, the United Nations said the international community must assist the Somali government to restore order.

''This is the right time to help the people in Somalia. The people, especially youth, are tired of war,'' Eric Laroche, U.N.

humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, told reporters.

Laroche said the UN was planning to help Somalia restore local administration by training police, rebuilding health centres, re-establishing education programmes and resettling approximately 400,000 internally displaced people.

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