DEBBIE ELLIOTT, host:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Debbie Elliott. A gunfight broke out tonight in the Somali capital Mogadishu. Gunmen attacked Ethiopian troops who entered Somalia just before the new year to oust the Islamic movement forces that were ruling much of the country.
The U.S. assistant secretary of state for Africa had planned a visit to Mogadishu today to meet with Somalia's transitional government, but the growing chaos apparently forced them to move the meeting to Kenya. NPR's Gwen Thompkins has been in Mogadishu for the past week and joins us now. Hey Gwen, when we talked to you last week after the Ethiopian troops had entered the Somali capital there, you described a fairly peaceful scene. It sounds like things have taken a turn for the worse.
GWEN THOMPKINS: I think you're right, Debbie. Things have taken a turn for the worse. It's been about 10 days, maybe 12 days, since the Ethiopian troops have come to Mogadishu. They came alongside Somali transitional government troops, and let's face it, they were largely responsible for the gains that the Somali transitional government made during its civil war with Islamists.
But it seems increasingly clear that Ethiopian troops are not welcome here. Now, there are people on the street who say, oh, we're so happy the Ethiopians are here. We're tired of the Islamic Courts Union running Mogadishu, and we would like to see the transitional government succeed.
But there's also a very strong contingent of people here who were fans of the Islamic Courts Union and who are not friendly to the transitional government, nor are they friendly to Ethiopian troops.
ELLIOTT: What have you been seeing, Gwen, as far as the violence on the streets?
THOMPKINS: Well, ironically enough, there was a gun battle just a few minutes ago outside my hotel. Yesterday, there were quite a few demonstrations around Mogadishu that turned ugly: tires burning, cars being attacked and vandalized, people screaming anti-Ethiopian as well as anti-transitional government slogans.
Now, one thing that I've seen over the week is that as the week began, there seemed to be more optimism in the air. People were quite friendly, and as the week has gone on, perhaps they've just gotten more used to us; but as the week has gone on, there's been a certain cooling among strangers.
You know, children are always a good litmus test for how welcome you are at a community, and the children have stopped smiling, and they've stopped waving, and that certainly seemed to be a sign of a change, at least among the parents.
ELLIOTT: Gwen, tell us about the mission of the U.S. assistant secretary of state. What is the U.S. trying to accomplish in Somalia now?
THOMPKINS: The primary goal of the U.S. appears to be anti-terrorism, and in fact, the U.S. suspects that three suspects are living in Somalia who are believed to be linked to the U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya back in 1998.
So at this point the U.S. appears to have a three-pronged strategy, first and foremost to find a peacekeeping force, an African peacekeeping force that will stabilize this country; secondly to hunt down and bring to justice as many suspected terrorists as possible; and thirdly, to help the transitional government figure out a way to stabilize itself, to stabilize the country and to entrench itself in this country so that people really take it seriously as leaders in this country.
ELLIOTT: NPR's Gwen Thompkins in Mogadishu. Thank you so much.
THOMPKINS: Thank you, Debbie. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
