Somali sub-clans fight over trees and seven die

Reuters:

At least seven people have died in gunfights between two sub-clans during a dispute over whether to burn trees for charcoal in the southwest of lawless Somala, residents and hospital sources said on Sunday.

At least 12 people were also wounded in the sporadic clashes of recent days around three villages in the Tiyeglow district of Bakool region, they said.

"We are trying to stop the fighting between the two brother sub-clans, but until now we have failed to achieve a cease-fire," local elder Abdiyow Hussien told Reuters by telephone.

Residents said members of one local sub-clan tried to burn trees for charcoal, but another group opposed to the deforestation tried to stop them. Fires were started in the villages and gunfights raged, they said.

Fighting among Somalia's myriad clans and sub-clans has been common since warlords overthrew ex-dictator Mohamed Siad Barre 14 years ago and took over the Horn of Africa nation.

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