Somali troops patrol Mogadishu streets after protests

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali and U.S. officials vowed on Sunday to work together to stabilize the chaotic state as hundreds of Somali government troops deployed in Mogadishu to prevent further unrest after anti-Ethiopian protests.

Washington's top diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, has been shuttling around the region as Western and African leaders discuss an African peacekeeping force for Somalia after two weeks of war saw Ethiopian and government troops force out Islamist fighters who had captured much of the south.

Frazer has said Washington was donating $16 million to help fund a proposed African peacekeeping force and she has called for dialogue between Somali groups, including "remnants" of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council.

After meeting Frazer in Nairobi, Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said: "We are going to work together for the stabilization of Somalia."

Weekend protests in Mogadishu and provincial towns illustrated the need for security forces.

In scenes reminiscent of the lawlessness associated with Mogadishu, which largely stopped during six months of strict Islamist rule, crowds hurled stones and burned tires on Saturday to demonstrate against the forces that ousted the Islamists.

Witnesses said three people, including a young boy were killed when Ethiopian troops, backing the interim government, and protesters exchanged shots. A government source said only one person was killed in gunfire between protesters and police.

On Sunday, resident Abdifatah Abdikadir said he saw hundreds of troops in the neighborhoods where the protests had erupted.

"Around 500 government troops have been deployed in the streets," he said. "I also saw about 15 technicals mounted with heavy machine guns," he said referring to pick-ups with guns.

A senior security source said the troop deployment was aimed at preventing further unrest: "We have deployed so many troops in order to prevent any problems," the source said. "The city is calm, there is no problem at all."

The source said an Islamist belonging to a court formerly headed by Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, was killed overnight. The movement arose from Mogadishu sharia courts.

"We don't know whether this is a targeted killing or he was killed by thugs... He was not a senior figure," the source said.