A suicide blast that ripped through the graduation ceremony of medical students in Mogadishu last week was Somalia's 9/11, a Somali civil society leader said.The suicide attack -- which killed 24 people including future doctors, four ministers and three journalists -- sent shockwaves through Somali society and dominated the debate during a week-long meeting on the conflict in the Kenyan resort of Mombasa. "What happened on December 3 in Mogadishu is seen by many people as the 9/11 of Somalia," Jabril Ibrahim Abdulle, head of the Mogadishu-based Centre for Research and Dialogue, said in reference to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. "Though the magnitude of the attack was less than the 9/11, for us it was a big disaster," he added. The attack has sparked unprecedented protests among Somalis who have accused the Al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab group of taking its holy war too far by slaughtering innocent civilians. The internationally backed government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, which the insurgents have repeatedly attacked, also blamed the rebels for the explosion that killed several medical students. The two main insurgents movements have denied any involvement. "We are here to end the madness at home," said a delegate at the Mombasa meeting who gave his name only as Ahmed. "No kingdom lasts forever." In May, the Shebab and their Hezb al-Islam allies launched a bruising military offensive to topple Sharif and oust the African Union peacekeepers protecting him, sparking fighting that has left hundreds dead and displaced tens of thousands. The five-day conference in Mombasa brings together Somali NGOs, think-tanks, analysts and researchers who will produce a document to be sent to major political stakeholders on ways of ending the 18-year-old conflict. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/091208/world/somalia_unrest_kenya
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