Troops gain in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia - African Union and Somali forces traded barrages of fire Friday at a new front line in Mogadishu, as AU forces gained new territory. Somalia's president appealed for more international aid, saying the government could not feed the overwhelming number of Somalis suffering from famine.

The African Union military force fears that al-Shabab militants may try to attack the camps that now house tens of thousands of famine refugees in the Somali capital, disrupting the distribution of food aid. A new offensive began Thursday to push the militant front line farther back from the camps.

The AU and Somali troops have been fighting a concerted offensive against al-Shabab all year and have gained a large swath of new territory in Mogadishu. But the fight took on a new importance in recent days as tens of thousands of famine refugees began squatting in squalid, hunger-filled camps here.

President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed said Friday that his government had created several refugee camps, but that his country needed urgent help because it could not support the level of aid needed. Ahmed also said that the military has weakened al-Shabab, and that "soon they will be defeated."

Abdirahman Omar Osman, the government spokesman, went further, saying that the famine response from aid agencies was "too slow" and that the crisis was even more severe than the U.N. has said. He noted that diseases are spreading through the camps, including measles.

"Many Somali children are dying in the country on a daily basis for lack of help," he said.

The drought and resulting famine in Somalia have affected more than 11 million people, including 2.2 million Somalis who live in al-Shabab controlled territory.

A second U.N. plane landed in Mogadishu on Friday carrying more than 20 tons of nutritional supplements. A Kuwait Air Force transport plane also offloaded sacks of food.

The World Food Program said that with its second delivery Friday, it has airlifted nearly 31 tons of ready-to-use food into Mogadishu.

WFP said that it was supplying a hot meal to 85,000 people daily at 20 feeding centers in Mogadishu, but that many refugees could not find the feeding sites or did not know about them.