Somali curfew lifted for Ramadan

"After consultations with the National Security Committee, it was decided to lift the curfew from today," said interior minister Mohamed Gule.

Mogadishu has seen rising violence since Ethiopian-backed government troops ousted Islamists last December.

Hundreds have died in clashes between Islamist-backed insurgents and government-backed Ethiopian troops.

Mogadishu's deputy police commissioner, Abdullahi Hassan Barise, said: "The curfew could not be there indefinitely; the situation seems a bit calm at the moment and people have to feel free to perform prayers in this holy month."

Lifting the curfew has been good news for restaurant owners like Sayid Ali Sheikh.

"Since the curfew was imposed I was not able to open my restaurant and that really affected the life of my family," he said.

Another resident Asha Dahir Muqtar, a mother of six, has bad memories of the curfew.

"I remember a night when my two-year-old son was wounded by a bullet following a gun battle near my house. I could not take him to the hospital and he was suffering and screaming before my eyes until the next morning," Asha said.

According to the UN refugee agency, recent attacks in the capital have forced another 400,000 people to flee the capital in the past four months.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
United Nations
African Union
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites