MOGADISHU, Somalia - A truce brokered by influential clan elders between the government and Islamic insurgents failed Sunday to halt fighting that has left the streets of the capital strewn with corpses.
Uganda, which has about 1,400 troops here as the vanguard of a larger African Union peacekeeping force, said it had lost its first soldier, who was hit by a mortar shell on Saturday. So far, Uganda is the only country to contribute to the peacekeeping force.
Mortar shells continued to rain down hours after Mogadishu's dominant clan, the Hawiye, said it had brokered a truce to stop the fighting between the insurgents and the government and its Ethiopian allies.
There are fears the conflict could widen. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit sent urgent letters to the United Nations, Arab League and the African Union urging a speedy intervention to end the fighting in Somalia.
"Egypt is following with great concern the military confrontation in Somalia," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that the presence of foreign troops in Somalia is complicating the situation.
Masked gunmen carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machine guns were brazenly walking the largely abandoned streets of Mogadishu, one of the world's most violent and gun-infested cities.
Shopkeepers closed their stores and families fled their homes for fear of stray mortars and bullets.
Untold numbers of civilians have been killed and hundreds wounded; corpses were not being taken off the streets or even tallied.
Clan elders have tried to negotiate several cease-fires but the government and Ethiopian offensive has sparked the heaviest fighting in the Somali capital since the country tumbled into anarchy in the early 1990s.
Hussein Ali Mohamed, 13, said he was doing homework when he felt an explosion rock his home and his leg was blown off by a mortar shell.
"They had to bury my leg," Mohamed said from Medina Hospital, which was overwhelmed with bloodied patients and exhausted doctors. "I will never forgive the people who did it. I will never be able to play with my friends again."
The insurgents are linked to the Council of Islamic Courts, which was driven from power in December by Somali and Ethiopian soldiers, accompanied by U.S. special forces. The U.S. has accused the courts of having ties to al Qaeda.
The Islamic courts stockpiled thousands of tons of weapons and ammunition during the six months they controlled Mogadishu. The insurgency will likely last until that stockpile is depleted, or key leaders are killed.
The militants have long rejected any secular government and have sworn to fight until Somalia becomes an Islamic emirate.
The UN refugee agency says 58,000 people have fled violence in the Somali capital since the beginning of February.
Mumino Haji Hassan, a mother of four who escaped Mogadishu last week for Hawa Abdi, about 12 miles away, said she was quickly running out of supplies to keep her family alive.
"We are thirsty -- we don't have any water to drink, let alone food to eat," she told The Associated Press. "We ask that donors give us urgent help, my youngest boy is in critical condition."
Hajira Hussein, a mother of eight, was sitting by the side of a road on the outskirts of Mogadishu, saying it was safer to live outside than to stay in the city.
"I know don't know what to eat or where to live," she said. "I don't even have a tent where I can put my children."
