Monday, July 16, 2007
The shells landed about 300 yards from the conference site, where President Abdullahi Yusuf was speaking, and three people were wounded, police said.
The conference, aimed at helping the country heal the wounds of 16 years of conflict, was postponed until Thursday.
Yusuf said the meeting was being delayed because only about half of the 1,000 delegates had arrived. The conference already was postponed several times due partly to violence in Mogadishu.
"I think it's very important that we bear in mind that this conference goes down in history as the first of its kind ever convened in Somalia," Yusuf said.
The conference is to serve as a forum for Somali elders to deal with clan grievances.
On Saturday, Islamic militants threatened to disrupt the gathering, saying anyone who takes part "is sentenced to death."
The threat came from the Shabab, the militant wing of an Islamic group that ruled much of southern Somalia for six months last year. The group was driven from its strongholds in December but has vowed to launch an Iraq-style insurgency until Somalia is ruled by an Islamic theocracy.
The Shabab termed Sunday's meeting a "conspiracy conference against the Somali people."
"Anyone who participates in it is sentenced to death," the group said on its Web site.
Mogadishu has seen little peace since government troops backed by Ethiopian forces drove Islamic hard-liners out of the city in December. Bombs, attacks on government installations, assassination attempts and gunbattles have become common, with civilians caught in the crossfire.
The government has said the Shabab's threats would not disrupt the conference. Somali and Ethiopian troops patrolled the streets, and dozens of checkpoints were set up along roads.
Somalia has been mired in chaos since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned against one another. The government was formed in 2004 with the help of the United Nations, but has struggled to assert any real control.
Source: AP, July 16, 2007