14/02/07 (B382) BBC : trois dépêches. Les habitants de Mogadiscio commencent à fuir en raison des attentats qui se multiplient. Quatre britanniques arrêtés alors qu’ils passaient la frontière et qui ont été traités en application des mesures de lutte contre le terrorisme. Ils viennent d’être relâchés. (En anglais – Info lectrice)

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1

Mogadishu
residents flee blasts

People
are fleeing areas in the Somalia capital, Mogadishu, that came under attack
overnight fearing more violence.

A BBC
correspondent says the port, presidential villa and a minister’s house came
under fire and two civilians were wounded in a gun battle.

The government
says it suspects the attacks were carried out by remnants of the defeated
Islamist militia.

Meanwhile,
a date for the deployment of African Union (AU) peacekeepers is expected within
48 hours.

The AU’s
peace and security council in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, has set
up two working groups to oversee military and financial planning for such
an operation.

Ugandan
and Nigerian soldiers are expected to be the first to be sent to the Somali
capital, where sporadic violence has continued since Ethiopian troops drove
out the Islamist administration at the end of last year.

In New
York, The United Nations Security Council is considering a resolution which
calls on African Union troops to take all necessary measures to provide support
and training for the Somali security forces.

Dozens
of people have been killed in a series of attacks in Mogadishu since the Union
of Islamic Courts (UIC) was ousted from the city they had controlled for six
months.

No group
has claimed responsibility but the government blames the remnants of the UIC
forces, saying some 3,500 Islamist fighters are hiding in Mogadishu.
Somalia has not had an effective national government for 16 years.

Return

The
BBC’s Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says most of the people are fleeing
from the areas close to the airport, seaport, the presidential palace and
any military and police bases in the city.

"For
the last two weeks a day has hardly passed without shelling and heavy gunfire
pounding our residential areas, so I do not want to wait for death in my dangerous
house," said Halima Hashi Dahir who is preparing to leave his home close
to an Ethiopian military camp.

A bus
driver who travels out of Mogadishu daily confirmed that many residents have
been fleeing.

"People
mainly women and children have been leaving the city for nearby regions for
the last three days," Abdi Shakur Abdi-karin told the BBC.

Meanwhile,
four British citizens, arrested during a Kenyan operation to capture fleeing
Somali Islamic fighters, are being deported from Somalia back to the London.

The
four men were arrested last month by Kenyan anti-terrorist police and then
forcibly returned to Somalia.

They
were detained by the British police on arrival under the Terrorism Act.

The Somali
government believes the men have links to al-Qaeda, but their families have
protested their innocence.

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2

Somalia
Britons face terror quiz

Four Britons
arrested in Kenya after crossing the border from war-torn Somalia have been
held under terrorism laws on their return home.

Officers
are questioning the men, all in their 20s and from London.

A police
spokesman said the men had been detained under the Terrorism Act 2000 to allow
them to investigate their arrest by the Kenyan authorities.

Somalian
authorities alleged the men – among several foreigners detained – may have
had links to al-Qaeda.

The Metropolitan
Police said the four Britons were detained in Kenya on or around 21 January
after crossing the border from Somalia.

They
were deported back to Somalia on 10 February.

Foreign
and Commonwealth Office (FCO) staff from Nairobi travelled to Baidoa in Somalia
and accompanied the men back to Kenya.

An FCO
spokesman said the men were all in good physical condition.

The four
were flown back to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, arriving at 0650 GMT.

A police
spokesman said: "The men have been detained under port and border controls
of the Terrorism Act 2000 in order for us to investigate the circumstances
leading up to their detention by the Kenyan authorities."

The spokesman
added: "They have been taken to a west London police station where they
are currently detained. They have not been arrested."

UK
support claim

FCO officials
say they were trying to establish what happened.

There
have previously been claims that Britons were injured or captured in fighting
in Somalia, which is currently gripped by a power struggle between Islamists
and government forces backed by Ethiopia.

Somalia’s
deputy prime minister had previously alleged that some support for the Islamist
movement was coming from the UK.

A Kenyan
police official said the Britons were among 10 foreigners who had been found
fleeing Somalia.

The group,
which also included two Americans, a Frenchman, a Tunisian woman, Syrians
and other fighters of Arabic origin, were to be deported, he said.

Ethiopian
forces invaded Somalia in December to prevent the Islamic movement, the Union
of Islamic Courts (UIC), from ousting the internationally recognised government
from its stronghold in the west of the country.

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3

Police
release four Somalia men

Four Britons
who faced questions under UK terror laws after being arrested crossing the
border between Kenya and Somalia have been allowed home.

The men
were detained under the Terrorism Act 2000 on their return to the UK but were
later released.

Police
questioned the men, all in their 20s and from London, about their arrest by
the Kenyan authorities.

Somalian
authorities alleged the men – among several foreigners detained – may have
had links to al-Qaeda.

The Metropolitan
Police said the four Britons were detained in Kenya on or around 21 January
after crossing the border from Somalia.

They
were deported back to Somalia on 10 February.

Foreign
Office staff from Nairobi travelled to Baidoa in Somalia and accompanied the
men back to Kenya.

A spokesman
said the men were all in good physical condition.

The four
were flown back to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, arriving at 0650 GMT.

They were
held under port and border controls of the Terrorism Act 2000 while officers
investigated the circumstances leading up to their detention in Kenya, the
police said, and then taken to a west London police station.

Later
the police said the men had been released.

UK
support claim

Foreign
Office officials say they were trying to establish what happened.

There
have previously been claims that Britons were injured or captured in fighting
in Somalia, where government forces backed by Ethiopia have ousted Islamists
from the capital, Mogadishu.

Somalia’s
deputy prime minister had previously alleged that some support for the Islamist
movement was coming from the UK.

A Kenyan
police official said the Britons were among 10 foreigners who had been found
fleeing Somalia.

The group,
which also included two Americans, a Frenchman, a Tunisian woman, Syrians
and other fighters of Arabic origin, were to be deported, he said.