MOGADISHU, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Islamist militants fired mortar bombs at a U.N.-chartered ship unloading military equipment for African peacekeepers in Mogadishu on Thursday, killing four porters, residents said. Despite the withdrawal from Somalia of their main foe, the Ethiopian army, Islamist rebels have vowed to continue fighting both the 3,500-strong African Union (AU) mission in Mogadishu and the government of new President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed. Witnesses said the port took a barrage of shells, terrifying workers and forcing the ship out to sea. "The mortars killed four porters and injured six others who work at the port," said one local worker, Hussein Mohamed. President Ahmed, a former geography teacher and moderate Islamist leader, is seeking to form a unity government to end 18 years of civil conflict that have shattered the Horn of Africa nation and left it one of the world's failed states. But his main obstacle is from Islamist insurgent groups, led by al Shabaab which wants to impose sharia law across Somalia and says Ahmed has sold out to the West. Al Shabaab and allied groups control large swathes of south Somalia, whereas the government has little influence on the ground beyond a few blocks of Mogadishu. Ahmed hopes his wider political appeal than predecessor Abdullahi Yusuf will soon change that, however. An AU spokesman in Mogadishu said the ship targeted on Thursday was carrying "logistical support", but declined to give more details. He blamed al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Muktar Robow Mansoor for inciting the attack. "Robow Mansoor is responsible for this attack because he publicised threats to attack the seaport," Major Barigye Ba-Hoku said. "We are safe but they killed innocent Somalis as usual." The AU wants the United Nations to take over peacekeeping in Somalia, but the Security Council is reluctant. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Abdi Guled; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Katie Nguyen)
Somalia's President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed arrives for a news conference at the police headquarters in Mogadishu February 9, 2009. A small African Union peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu must be reinforced fast ...
