Somalia's complex conflict

By David Bamford
BBC News Africa analyst

African Union troops have been trying to keep the peace in Somalia

The fighting in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, is the latest incident in a string of clashes over the last two weeks between pro-government forces and insurgents.

It comes just as African Union peacekeepers from Uganda are deploying in the city and more peacekeepers from Nigeria and Ghana are due to arrive.

Uganda says its forces has not been involved in the fighting.

When the Union of Islamic Courts' leaders were forced out of Somalia in December after six months in power, the militants among them promised they would start an insurgency war against the Ethiopian army on which the Somali transitional government depends.

But the insurgents fighting on the streets of Mogadishu are not just Islamists. They also include, and may well predominantly consist of, militiamen loyal to the main clan in this part of the country - the Hawiye.

Many of its leaders have long been hostile towards Ethiopian involvement in Somalia.

On Tuesday night, just a few hours before fighting broke out, Hawiye clan leaders and traditional elders held a meeting in Mogadishu.

They issued a statement hostile to both the transitional government and Ethiopia.

Lack of faith

They expressed also their lack of faith in the African Union peacekeeping force from Uganda.

The transitional government is led by President Abdullahi Yusuf.

Neither a Hawiye nor from Mogadishu - he is a Darod from the Puntland region - he is accused by the Hawiye of precipitating this crisis by bringing in his own militiamen and relying on the mistrusted Ethiopians.

The government side started this latest fighting when Ethiopian tanks and troops moved towards a Hawiye stronghold around Mogadishu's old defence ministry.

This fighting is more deep-rooted than being a matter of Islamist insurgents trying to regain control, which is why it may become very dangerous for the AU peacekeepers at a time when there may be no peace to keep.