http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =130273801Somali Civilians, Caught In The Middle
Maryan Hassan, a street vendor in Hamarweyne, a government-controlled neighborhood, says she doesn't see African Union troops as her defenders. Hassan says she resents them for firing mortars into neighborhoods and killing ordinary people.
"The African Union troops in Mogadishu, when the fighting starts, they shell where the civilians live, because al-Shabab is firing from there," she says.
After al-Shabab attacked the parliament building last month, Hassan and other witnesses say the African Union troops retaliated by shelling Bakara, Somalia's main market and an al-Shabab stronghold. Members of a local family were killed in their home.
Hassan says when she sees African Union troops, she flees.
Africa Union peacekeepers race through the bombed-out city at up to 60 miles an hour to avoid attack by Islamist insurgents.
"When I always see them moving around in their big tanks and huge vehicles, I ask myself: Will Shabab target them and will I be hurt in the crossfire?" she says. "So then I run away from where they are. I don't like them at all."
But Hassan says she hates al-Shabab.
Hassan, who wears a black hijab and a bright pink scarf, sells women's toiletries — including lipstick and face cream — from a wooden cart.
The group opposes women using makeup, let alone those doing business. Hassan knows if al-Shabab takes over, she'll be unemployed.
Still, she says, she would prefer the group come to power if only to end the carnage.
"If al-Shabab takes over, it will be safer. Yes, there will be problems. But it won't be like when the African Union is shelling civilians," she says.
Col. Michael Ondoga, a top African union commander, says people like Maryan Hassan are mistaken. He says many groups in Mogadishu, including clan militias, fire mortars.
"We don't hit civilians with mortars; they are not meant for civilians," he insists. "The Bakara market is out of bounds. We don't fire on the Bakara market. Wherever there are civilians, we cannot fire."
But just a couple of hours later, a group of foreign reporters stumble into an African Union mortar position in a Mogadishu neighborhood.
There is a piece of wood with several numbers written on it: mortar settings for striking a target about a mile away. The target, it reads, is Bakara market.
