Artillery shells and mortars rained down on Somalia’s capital Mogadishu again today, despite a plea by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to end the violence that has left nearly 250 people dead.

Sudan’s ambassador to the US, John Lueth Ukee, said today that only minor issues stand in the way of his government’s acceptance of a 22,000-member UN peacekeeping force to be deployed in the violence-plagued Darfur region.