Somalia: The Impending Battle

**troung** · 27 Oct 06,, 17:11

Somalia: The Impending Battle

Summary

Troops in Somalia are digging in for an anticipated battle between the country's interim government and its allies on one side and the Supreme Islamic Courts Council (SICC) on the other. Despite recent successes, a SICC victory is not assured, since the Islamists have yet to prove themselves in a pitched battle. The interim government and its allies face their own logistical obstacles, however. Regardless of who emerges victorious, fears are running high among Somalian civilians that clan reprisals will result from this struggle.

Analysis

Troops in Somalia are digging in for an anticipated battle between the country's interim government and its allies on one side and the Supreme Islamic Courts Council (SICC) on the other.

Despite recent successes, a SICC victory is not assured, since the Islamists have yet to prove themselves in a pitched battle. The interim government and its allies face their own logistical obstacles, however. Regardless of who emerges victorious, fears are running high among Somalian civilians that clan reprisals will result from this struggle.

Somalia's secular interim government and its Ethiopian and regional backers have so far blocked SICC from its goal of preserving and expanding its authority. The SICC now appears to be gearing up to overcome this obstacle. Thus, SICC leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said Oct. 24 that the time for negotiations with the interim government was over. Aweys dared the interim government's backer, Ethiopia, to invade. Ethiopia's taking up the challenge would benefit SICC since increased Ethiopian involvement would motivate Somalians to support SICC against Christian foreigners.

The Islamists began rallying 2,000 troops just east of the interim government's base, Baidoa, on Oct. 26. This move came a day after the Islamists cut off the delivery of fuel from Mogadishu to Baidoa to deny government forces mobility. Aweys intends to hold massive rallies in Mogadishu and other cities under SICC control Oct. 27, a strategy designed to mobilize additional fighters.

A SICC victory over Baidoa and Ethiopian and allied troops is not assured, however. First, its base of power is the professed loyalty of Somalian warlords, many of whom could have professed that loyalty for political reasons. There is a substantial difference between convincing warlords engaged in a perpetual power struggle to profess a potentially beneficial loyalty and actually getting them to act on it by deploying their own militias far from their personal centers of power. Second, even if the warlords can be mobilized, finding sufficient transportation to project their forces en masse in southern and central Somalia could prove problematic -- to say nothing of the logistics needed to sustain combat operations. And third, getting those militias to coordinate and operate on the same level as a uniformed military force poses great challenges to the Islamists.

Baidoa has the benefit of Ethiopia's backing -- a country with a structured, equipped military, which could prove decisive in any conflict with the fairly ragtag Somalian militias. With additional support from Uganda and Kenya, even logistical support alone, will shift the balance of power even further to Baidoa's corner.

Dependency comes at a cost for Baidoa, though. Addis Ababa and its allies face major hurdles, which imperils Baidoa's likelihood of success. Ethiopia has reportedly had trouble in the past supplying its troops on the Somalian border with food and water. Supplying engaged, advancing units would prove even more problematic. Although Ethiopian troops are operating near their own border, their supply lines run much deeper into Ethiopia. Though Ethiopia does field a number of transport aircraft capable of operating from improvised airfields like those in Baidoa, it is probably not capable of supporting a large presence in Somalia solely by air.

War in Somalia will involve infantry, trucks and "technicals" -- pickups with heavy machine guns and recoilless rifles mounted in the truck beds. Ethiopia does have some 250 old Soviet-era tanks (T-54s and T-62s) and 300-plus armored reconnaissance/fighting vehicles, not to mention artillery, artillery rockets and air defense. It also would enjoy undisputed control of airspace, fielding 25 Mi-24 Hind attack helicopters and a number of combat fighter jets that could be used to engage massed Somalian militias or bombard a small town in which those militias might shelter.

To counter the Ethiopian armed forces, SICC militia and its assortment of warlords riding on technicals reportedly continue to receive weapons from Ethiopia's rival Eritrea, including surface-to-air missile systems, anti-tank recoilless rifles and rocket-propelled grenade weapons systems, heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery cannons. More menacingly than these conventional armaments is the likelihood that hard-liners within the SICC led by Adan Hashi Ayro, an extremist trained in Afghanistan, will recruit foreign jihadists to boost their fighting force. It is believed Yemen will become a transit point for the recruitment of jihadists fighting in Iraq to join the fray in Somalia.

The battle for Baidoa is not the ultimate prize, though. To achieve their goals, the Islamists must hold Mogadishu and eject the secular government and its allies from Baidoa. For their part, the interim government and its Ethiopian and Ugandan allies have to hold Baidoa and eject the Islamists from Mogadishu. Neither of these goals is realistically achievable, however. The Islamists cannot project force to take Baidoa from the already-entrenched interim government and its Ethiopian backers. And the Ethiopians would be foolish to try fighting their way into Mogadishu.

And while Somalian and neighboring political actors mobilize and maneuver their forces, however, Somalian civilians fear they will bear the brunt of the looming battle. Reprisals against rival clans, especially between the Hawiye and Darood clans in central Somalia --the clans of Aweys and Interim President Abdullahi Yusuf, respectively -- is a fear that resonates deeply ahead of Somalia's battle.

**troung** · 30 Oct 06,, 20:18

From:Reuters
Monday, 30 October, 2006

By Guled Mohamed

BUUR HAKABA, Somalia (Reuters) - Shuffling along with a walking stick and an AK-47 rifle slung over his shoulder, Mohamed Maalim Abdi reported for holy war.

"I am ready for jihad. I have a lot of experience. I fought Ethiopia in 1977," the 72-year-old farmer said on Monday as he stood next to a six-wheeled Islamists' truck bearing an anti-aircraft gun.

Earlier, Abdi had greeted the Islamist fighters with a shout of "God is greatest!" at a junction about 30 km (18 miles) from what analysts fear will be the flashpoint of a Somali war that sucks in Horn of Africa rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea.

The Islamist gunmen here are the rear guard of a series of defensive lines arrayed against an opposing force from Somalia's interim government and allies from the far more formidable Ethiopian military.

The Ethiopian presence, there to protect the government of President Abdullahi Yusuf, prompted the militarily powerful Islamists to declare jihad against Ethiopia this month.

A U.N. report says Eritrea is arming the Islamists to frustrate its arch-enemy Ethiopia, which Asmara denies.

Buur Hakaba, a south-central Somali town of maize fields on the road from Islamist-controlled Mogadishu, is their closest base to the only town the fractious government controls, Baidoa.

In the past month, government and allied Ethiopian soldiers have taken it over twice, and twice the Islamists have returned. This time, they came in force.

The rival Somali sides were due to start a third round of Arab League-backed peace talks on Monday, but few expected any progress. At the frontline, the troops expected war.

"We are only waiting for the talks to end. We will attack them," fighter Ismail Yusuf, 21, told Reuters, on a break from his post on along the road and bushlands leading to Baidoa.

'TENSER AND TENSER'

He estimated that at least 3,000 Ethiopians, along with government troops, had moved within 10 km (6 miles) of the Islamist frontline. Another 2,000 were in Baidoa, he said.

"There is a lot of troop movement from both sides. Fighting can start at any time. It's getting tenser and tenser," Islamist gunman Abdinasir Ahmed said.

Ethiopia says it has only sent several hundred armed military trainers to Somalia, but has threatened to crush any attack by Islamists it says are led by militants.

The Islamists have emerged as the most powerful military force in Somalia since seizing Mogadishu in June and advancing across much the country's south, imposing strict sharia law and exploiting traditional Somalia enmity against rival Ethiopia.

In Buur Hakaba, where the ordinarily sere and dusty plains have turned muddy and green with grass from recent rains, Islamist troops are everywhere.

Unlike in most towns at the sharp end of a war ready to break out, most residents say they are not worried.

But the roughly 30,000 people in Buur Hakaba, like most Somalis, have suffered unending mayhem since 1991, when warlords ousted the last national president and ushered in anarchy.

"We have never seen so many troops and weapons like this. We have no fear. The Islamists are here to defend us. At least 250 local residents have registered for jihad. I registered myself five days ago," driver Abdullahi Ibrahim, 30, told Reuters.

And like many Somalis, their public loyalties tend to lie with the strongest.

"The people of Buur Hakaba have chosen sharia law. I have no option but to follow their will," said Mohamed Abdi Hussein, a district chief installed by the government six months ago.

"I am personally ready to please God and take part in the jihad

http://home.eircom.net/content/reute...view=Eircomnet

**troung** · 30 Oct 06,, 20:34

U.S. report says Somalia deteriorating, thousands of foreign troops in the country

NAIROBI, Kenya – There are thousands of foreign troops inside Somalia and their presence could lead to “an all out war” between Somalia's transitional government and an Islamic group that controls much of the country, according to a confidential U.N. report obtained by The Associated Press.

The report dated Oct. 26 cites diplomatic sources in estimating that “between 6,000-8,000 Ethiopians and 2,000 fully equipped Eritrean troops are now inside Somalia supporting” the internationally recognized government and the Islamic group known as the Council of Islamic Courts.

“Both sides in the Somali conflict are reported to have major outside backers – the government supported by Ethiopia, Uganda and Yemen; the Islamic courts receiving aid from Iran, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Gulf States,” the report added.

The briefing paper was written to help senior U.N. officials map out a strategy on how to provide aid to one of the most impoverished countries in the world, one that has not had an effective central government since 1991.

“In order for us to do this, a clear policy of engagement with the (Islamic courts) must be put in place,” the report said. “The fact is that there is new found stability in Mogadishu, extending to areas that they have begun to control, which has not been seen for many years.”

One problem facing the United Nations is the listing of the Islamic courts' leader, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, on a list of people with ties to terrorism. U.N. policy severely restricts how much contact U.N. officials can have with people with alleged ties to terror organizations.

Both the transitional government and the Council of Islamic Courts have been girding for battle. Government forces, supported by Ethiopian military advisers, have been seen digging trenches near Baidoa, the only town the U.N.-backed government controls.

The Islamic courts have deployed forces at a strategic town between Baidoa, and their headquarters in the capital, Mogadishu, 150 miles to the southeast.

Ethiopian officials have insisted they have only a few hundred military advisers assisting the government, but international and local officials have previously put the number in the thousands.

Islamic leaders called for nationwide protests on Friday against Ethiopian troops in Somalia. Some Islamic leaders have called for a holy war against Ethiopia until it pulls its forces out of Somalia.

The Somali transitional government has repeatedly accused Eritrea of arming and supporting their rivals in the Islamic courts, something that both Eritrean and Islamic officials have repeatedly denied.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a two-year border war that remains unresolved. The top U.S. diplomat to Africa, Jendayi Frazer, last week accused Eritrea of using Somalia to open a second front against Ethiopia.

In Washington on Thursday, U.S. State Dept. spokesman Sean McCormack called on Ethiopia and Eritrea not to further aggravate the tense situation in Somalia.

“This is a country that has been ravaged by violence and civil conflict for decades and it's a sad story, so we would hope that countries in the region would try to play a positive role ... to not take any steps that would aggravate what is already a very tough, sad situation,” he said.

The U.N. refugee agency said Friday that the flow of Somali refugees into neighboring Kenya had slowed down, but expressed concerns over reports the Islamic courts were preventing people from leaving Somalia.

**Garry** · 01 Nov 06,, 08:08

This reminds me an old car which is so much broken and so many times repaired that one wishes to scrap it and buy the new one.... but this is a nation.

**Commando** · 02 Nov 06,, 06:21

Somalia has so many problems.

**troung** · 20 Nov 06,, 01:26

Ethiopia troops said killed in Somalia By MOHAMED ALI, Associated Press Writer
11 minutes ago

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Islamic fighters ambushed an Ethiopian military convoy on Sunday, killing six soldiers and injuring 20 in the first known skirmish between the rival forces maneuvering for control in Somalia, witnesses said.

Two Ethiopian trucks were destroyed by land mines before Islamic fighters opened fire on the convoy of more than 80 vehicles, witnesses told The Associated Press. The convoy was headed for the town of Baidoa, 150 miles west of the capital Mogadishu, where the country's weak interim government is based.

Ethiopia backs the transitional government, whose authority has been severely challenged by an Islamic movement that has taken over the capital and much of southern Somalia since June.

The attack occurred near the town of Bardaleh, 50 miles southwest of Baidoa. Six Ethiopian soldiers were killed and 20 were injured according to a Somali fighter traveling in the convoy who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.

"There were two explosions and then a large exchange of gunfire," said one witness who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. Around 50 Islamic fighters were involved, the witness added.

Islamic courts spokesman Sheik Abdirahim Ali Mudey told the AP that four Ethiopian trucks were destroyed and some soldiers were killed, but denied that his group was responsible for the attack. He said it was "a popular uprising" by village residents opposed to Ethiopian troops inside Somalia.

Heightening tensions in Somalia have raised fears of an all-out war could engulf the wider region.

Experts have warned the country has become a proxy battleground for Somalia's neighbors, Eritrea and Ethiopia. A confidential U.N. report obtained last month by the AP said 6,000 to 8,000 Ethiopian troops are in or near Somalia's border with Ethiopia, backing the interim government. The report also said 2,000 troops from Eritrea are inside Somalia supporting the Islamic movement.

Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another. The interim government was formed with the help of the United Nations two years ago, but it only controls Baidoa, the town where it is based.

Government officials confirmed a skirmish had taken place but said they had no details. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media .

Ethiopian officials were not immediately available for comment. Ethiopian officials acknowledge sending military advisers to help Somalia's government, but have denied deploying a large number of troops.

Somalia's Islamic movement, meanwhile, lifted a curfew Sunday imposed after demonstrations against a ban on the popular stimulant "qat," a leaf chewed across the Horn of Africa and the Middle East. The 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew imposed Thursday was the first in Mogadishu since the collapse of the last effective national government 15 years ago.

___

Associated Press Writer Salad Duhul contributed to this report.

**troung** · 20 Nov 06,, 21:53

Somali region to switch to Sharia

The leader of Somalia's autonomous region of Puntland has agreed to introduce Islamic law in the territory.

Mohamed Adde Muse said a committee would decide how best to implement Sharia to replace the current Western-based system of civil laws.

Correspondents say the move follows intense pressure from local Muslim and clan leaders.

Puntland has been far more stable than southern Somalia after running its own affairs since 1998.

Much of southern Somalia is now controlled by the Islamist Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).

Earlier this month, Puntland denied reports its forces had clashed with Islamist militias near the border.

Some Puntland leaders had threatened to join the UIC, correspondents say.
John Prendergast, a senior adviser with the International Crisis Group, think-tank said the decree was intended to avoid conflict with the UIC.

"Puntland authorities are trying to pre-empt the UIC's agenda before the UIC makes a major play to overtake the government there," he said.

**troung** · 22 Nov 06,, 23:58

21 November 2006
Islamists attack Ethiopian convoy
Hassan Yare

Reuters

MOGADISHU — Fighters loyal to the Somali Islamic Courts movement attacked an Ethiopian military convoy at the weekend, in what may be the first skirmish between the sides in the tense Horn of Africa nation.

Union of Islamic Courts militia seized the capital Mogadishu in June and now control much of the south of the country, leaving the interim administration marooned in Baidoa, where residents say Ethiopian troops are protecting the western-backed government.

If confirmed, it would be the first attack by the Islamic Courts group on Ethiopian troops, against whom they have declared a holy war.

The Ethiopian government initially denied it had sent its forces across the border. In recent weeks, however, it said the army had sent “trainers” to aid Somalia’s struggling interim government. Ethiopia’s arch enemy, Eritrea, backs the Islamic Courts.

An Islamist source who declined to be named said the Ethiopian convoy hit a landmine and then came under gunfire.

A security source in Baidoa said six Ethiopians were killed in the attack. This could not immediately be confirmed.

Tensions have risen between the interim administration and the Islamists, whose territorial gains have thwarted the government’s aim to impose central rule on a country in chaos since 1991.

Addis Ababa has denied sending troops to Somalia, although it says it has sent several hundred armed military trainers there

**troung** · 24 Nov 06,, 03:45

We are ready for war, Ethiopia warns Somalia's Islamists

World News

Times Online November 23, 2006

Islamist militia guards at a rally in Somalia in support of the recently formed Islamic court and against the reported presence of Ethiopian troops (Stringer/AFP/Getty)

We are ready for war, Ethiopia warns Somalia's Islamists
Jonathan Clayton, Africa Correspondent

The Horn of Africa, one of the world’s most volatile regions, edged closer to war today after Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, said that his country had completed preparations to take on a powerful Islamic alliance in neighbouring Somalia.

Mr Zenawi told the Ethiopian parliament that the Islamists presented a "clear and present danger" to Ethiopia, whose main regional foe — Eritrea — was arming them. He said that attempts to settle the crisis through dialogue and negotiation had proved fruitless.

"When any country faces that type of danger it has the full right to defend itself against this threat ... To exercise this right we have been preparing for this kind of response because it is our responsibility," Mr Zenawi declared.

Opposition MPs criticised his statement as amounting to "a declaration of war". The Islamists, who now control most of Somalia, later met in emergency session in the capital, Mogadishu, and vowed to defend the country against a "reckless and war-thirsty" Ethiopia.

However, at the same time the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia, a coalition of 11 Islamic organisations that wrested power earlier this year from local warlords, invited Washington to send an official delegation to Mogadishu for talks.

Council spokesman Abdurahim Muddey said: "We are inviting the United States to send a delegation to see what is happening in Somalia... The US delegation will be received by our foreign relations chief, Ibrahim Hassan Addow, who is himself an American citizen."

The United States has accused the Islamists of links to al-Qaeda and encouraged Ethiopia to send 5,000 troops to support a rump government based in the border town of Baidoa.

A UN report also recently accused 11 countries of fuelling the conflict in Somalia by supplying arms to either side. It said that the influx of weaponry risked igniting a new regional war in the Horn of Africa like the 1976-78 Ogaden War in which America and the then Soviet Union backed opposing sides.

Aidan Hartley, a regional analyst and author, told The Times: "We are now looking at a potent mix of nationalism and Islam. Many of the Islamists are also nationalists who have never forgotten the humiliation of losing the Ogaden."

Several regional experts have disputed the report, which also claimed Somali fighters fought alongside Hezbollah against Israel in last summer’s Lebanon conflict with Israel. They said that only a handful of the Islamists were extremists and that the American approach risked strengthening, rather than weakening, their position.

In echoes of allegations against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq prior to its invasion, the UN report also alleged that Iran sought to purchase uranium from the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia in exchange for weapons. It named 11 countries that have violated the country’s arms embargo, including Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Libya and Egypt.

The Islamists’ supreme leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, has been designated a "terrorist" by the US, which earlier this month warned that Somali extremists may be plotting suicide attacks in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Intelligence sources say Washington has indicated to Ethiopia that it would not oppose a military operation to remove the Islamists, but regional experts say such an action would ignite the entire region.

Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a devastating border war in 1998-2000 and have several unresolved border disputes. It is feared both would soon be directly embroiled in any fresh conflict.

Washington previously ran a covert operation to support Somali warlords fighting the Islamists for control of Mogadishu that collapsed in June when the city fell. The warlords carved up Somalia in 1991 after the Cold War dictator, Mohamed Siad Barre, was overthrown and since then has known nothing but anarchy.

Today, European Union sources in Brussels, citing the danger of an all-out war in the Horn of Africa, distanced themselves from the US policy of refusing to engage in dialogue with the Islamists.

"They have done what no one else has done for 15 years: brought a measure of stability to the country... We need a more balanced approach," said a senior European Commission official with responsibility for the region.

The Islamists deny any connection to terrorism, but the transitional Somali government accuses them of staging an unsuccessful suicide car bomb attempt to kill the President in the administration’s seat of Baidoa in September.

One faction is also believed to have assassinated an Italian nun in September and a Scandinavian television reporter last June.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...468238,00.html

**troung** · 24 Nov 06,, 03:46

Somalia on knife-edge as Ethiopia, Islamists ready for all-out war

ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said today his country has completed preparations for war with neighbouring Somalia’s powerful Islamist movement, alongside faltering peace efforts.

Meles told parliament that the Islamists, who have declared holy war on Ethiopian troops deployed to Somalia to protect the weak internationally backed Somali government, represented a “clear and present danger” to his country.

Less than an hour after after Meles’ announcement, the Islamists gathered in a war council in Mogadishu and said they were ready to defend Somalia from invasion by a “reckless and war-thirsty” Ethiopia.

“This group represents a clear threat to Ethiopia,” Meles told Ethiopian lawmakers in Addis Ababa, which denies UN experts’ claims of having sent thousands of troops to Somalia but admits to sending military advisers.

"To resist this clear and present danger, the policy of this government is first to try to solve the problem through negotiation and dialogue,” he said. “So far, our attempts have not been successful."

“When any country faces that type of danger it has the full right to defend itself against this threat,” Meles said. “To exercise this right we have been preparing for this kind of response, because it is our responsibility."

“The government has completed that kind of preparations."

However, opposition lawmakers then refused to accept a motion endorsing the prime minister’s statements, calling it tantamount to a declaration of war and forcing a delay in the vote in order for revisions to be made.

“As it is, the motion is confusing,” opposition MP Beyene Petros said. “It can be interpreted broadly as declaring war against Islamic courts in Somalia and we cannot take responsibility for that."

“This motion needs to be amended and negotiated with the parties’ representatives in the parliament,” he said.

Mainly Christian Ethiopia has watched with growing concern the rise on its southeastern border of the Islamists, who seized Mogadishu in June and now control most of southern and central Somalia.

With a large ethnic Somali population, Ethiopia fears radicalisation of its sizable Muslim minority by the Islamists, some of whom are accused of links to Al-Qaeda, who have imposed strict Sharia law in areas they control.

In Mogadishu, senior members of the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS) met to plot strategy after Meles’ address, delivered after the Islamists claimed to have ambushed several Ethiopian military convoys near the Somali government seat of Baidoa.

“If Ethiopia is ready for war, we are very ready for the defence of our country,” said SICS spokesman Abdurahim Ali Muddey. “But we urge Ethiopia to refrain from its reckless, war-thirsty behaviour.

“We are not a threat to Ethiopia, but the presence of its troops in our homeland is a serious security risk to Somalia as well as Ethiopia,” he said. “The statement by the prime minister is a threat to regional peace."

On Sunday and Tuesday, the Islamists said holy warriors, or Mujahadeen, had carried out attacks on Ethiopian military targets around Baidoa, the only government-held city.

Ethiopia has not yet directly commented on the claims but has stressed numerous times that its soldiers in Somalia are there only in a support role for the transitional Somali government and its forces.

Ethiopia is one of 10 countries, along with Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah movement, accused of violating a 1992 UN arms embargo on Somalia by sending weapons and other military goods to the Somali rivals.

The build-up has alarmed UN experts and raised fears of full-scale war in Somalia that could engulf the Horn of Africa region, drawing in Ethiopia and its arch-for neighbour Eritrea, which is accused of backing the Islamists.

Peace talks aimed at averting all-out war collapsed earlier this month in Khartoum, with the Islamists demanding the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops as a pre-condition to meet government delegates.

Urgent efforts are now under way to revive the negotiations, two earlier rounds of which produced limited interim agreements that the Islamists and the Somali government both accuse each other of violating.

Somalia has been without a functioning central authority since the 1991 ousting of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre and the two-year-old transitional government has been unable to assert control.

http://www.businessday.co.za/article...?ID=BD4A325372

**troung** · 29 Nov 06,, 02:08

Posted to the web on: 27 November 2006
Islamists mass troops on Ethiopian border

MOGADISHU — Somalia’s powerful Union of Islamic Courts began massing thousands of troops on the border with Ethiopia over the weekend, days after Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said he was ready to confront the Islamic militants in Somalia.

“War is imminent. There is no other alternative,” Islamist military officer Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Bilal said by satellite phone from the border. “Ethiopia declared war, so we will defend ourselves and protect our country and people.”

The Islamists have declared a jihad on Ethiopian troops in the country to back the weak transitional government based in the northern town of Baidoa.

Ethiopia last week said it was ready for a confrontation with the Muslim militants, who control most of the country.

Residents of the border area have begun fleeing.

Meles told a news conference on Saturday he had explained Ethiopia’s position to western powers. “Both Brussels and Washington appear to believe that any military response on our part might be counterproductive, saying that dialogue is the best way forward,” he said.

“We, too, agree that dialogue is the best way, nevertheless as the direct victims of the aggression, we feel we might be forced at some stage to respond with force.

“It is our country that is being attacked. Naturally, we do not seek any green, red or yellow from anyone to protect ourselves.

“If, and when, we are convinced that all options of resolving the invasion through peaceful means are exhausted, only then we may act to respond in kind,” Meles said. The Islamists had trained, armed and smuggled hundreds of Ethiopian rebels into the country, he said.

Ethiopia has in the past sent troops into Somalia to fight Islamist radicals, fearing they could stir up trouble in ethnic Somali regions on its side of the border.

Senior Somali Islamist Sheikh Sharif Ahmed has accused Washington of giving Ethiopia the go-ahead to fight his movement.

Meles was speaking two days after appearing in parliament to urge legislators to back plans to fight the Somali Islamists, although he has refrained from declaring outright war on them.

Ethiopia insists it has only sent a few hundred military trainers across the border, but a United Nations-commissioned report says it has deployed thousands of soldiers and weapons in Somalia.

In Mogadishu, senior Islamists and visiting parliamentary speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan on Saturday condemned the parliamentary address by Meles as “naked aggression”.

The group also issued a 10-point communique which called for the Islamists and the interim government to resume talks in Khartoum next month.

Talks between the two sides collapsed last month, with the Islamists saying they would not negotiate unless Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia.

Interim government Deputy Defence Minister Salad Ali Gele said the Islamists had to drop their demands before the government would return to talks.

Meanwhile, some 320 Ugandan soldiers arrived in a military plane at the Baidoa airstrip overnight on Friday as part of a regional peacekeeping mission that is vehemently opposed by the Muslim militants, said a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Security was stepped up at the government’s base in Baidoa, where the internationally backed government put a stop to all civilian flights. Experts have warned the conflict could escalate into an larger regional war.

Somalia has been without strong central rule since the 1991 ousting of a dictator plunged the country into anarchy. DPA, Reuters

http://www.businessday.co.za/article...?ID=BD4A327413

**troung** · 07 Dec 06,, 20:06

U.N. resolution angers Somalia militants By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 38 minutes ago

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Islamic militants in control of most of southern Somalia warned Thursday that war will erupt over a U.N. decision authorizing an African force to protect the country's virtually powerless government.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved the resolution Wednesday, hoping to restore peace in Somalia and avert a broader conflict in the region. Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedis welcomed the decision and urged its immediate implementation.

The U.S. resolution, co-sponsored by the council's African members, also partially lifts an arms embargo on Somalia so the regional force can be supplied with weapons and military equipment and train the government's security forces.

It urged the Islamic militants, who control the capital of Mogadishu, to stop any further military expansion and join the transitional government in peace talks.

However, peace talks slated for later this month appeared unlikely, with the Islamic group saying it will now have to reconsider joining any such dialogue with the Somali government.

A spokesman for the Islamic movement said the resolution will introduce sophisticated weapons into Somalia and provoke a war between his group and the struggling government.

"We see the approval of the resolution as nothing but an evil intention," Abdirahin Ali Mudey, spokesman for the Islamic Courts, told The Associated Press.

Mudey accused the Security Council of giving the Somali government's main ally, Ethiopia, permission to occupy the country.

"The international community has proven to be biased and unjust," he said.

The resolution, however, bans Somalia's neighbors from sending soldiers, which would prohibit participation in the force by troops from Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. Uganda is the only country thus far to volunteer troops.

The arms embargo against Somalia was imposed in 1992, a year after warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another. An interim government was formed two years ago with the help of the U.N., but it has struggled to assert its authority against the Islamic militants.

Critics of the resolution, including some non-governmental organizations, accuse the Security Council of taking sides in the dispute between the government and the Islamic movement.

But there are fears that, without international action, Somalia could become a proxy battleground for Ethiopia and Eritrea, which fought a border war in 1998-2000.

"International terrorists, opportunists are using some Somali people in order to destabilize our country and the region," Gedi said in Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya. "So the decision by the Security Council must be immediately implemented."

The U.S. has accused Islamic Courts movement, which takes its name from a system of local religious courts, of harboring al-Qaida suspects.

A confidential U.N. report obtained recently by the AP said 6,000-8,000 Ethiopian troops were in Somalia or along the border, supporting the transitional government. It also said 2,000 soldiers from Eritrea were inside Somalia, supporting the Islamic militia — which Eritrea denies. Somalia's deputy U.N. ambassador, Idd Bedel Mohamed, insisted only a small number of Ethiopians were training its security forces.

Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu denounced the U.N. resolution as an "attack on the Somali people." He also said it provided support for just one warlord, an indirect reference to Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf's past as one of the country's major warlords.

The authorized force "is not a peacekeeping force, it is an invasion keeping force," Abdu told Al-Jazeera television.

The resolution authorizes a seven-nation East African group known as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD, and the African Union to establish "a protection and training mission in Somalia" for an initial period of six months.

Council diplomats said IGAD envisions a force of eight battalions, each with 700 to 800 troops, but only two would be deployed in the first phase.

The U.N. last authorized peacekeepers to enter Somalia in December 1992, with the U.S. leading an international force to help feed famine victims in the midst of widespread violence between warlords.

By 1993, the mission evolved into disarming factions hindering relief efforts, including a search for Gen. Mohamed Farrah Aidid, a leading warlord. On Oct. 3, an urban battle with Aidid's forces killed 18 U.S. soldiers and wounded 84.

Public outrage over the troops' violent deaths — fed by televised pictures of the bodies of U.S. soldiers being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu — generated enough political pressure for President Bill Clinton to order all troops to withdraw by March 31, 1994.

___

Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

**troung** · 07 Dec 06,, 20:07

Somalia official issues beheading threat

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061206/...malia_prayer_2

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an Islamic courts official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days.
Public places such as shops and tea houses in Bulo Burto, about 124 miles northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, should be closed during prayer time and no one should be on the streets, said Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town's Islamic court.
Those who do not follow this edict "will definitely be beheaded according to Islamic law," Rage told The Associated Press by phone. "As Muslims, we should practice Islam fully, not in part, and that is what our religion enjoins us to do."
He said that the courts are announcing the edict over loudspeakers in the town.
The decision is not binding on courts in other towns.
Somalia's Islamic courts have made varying interpretations of Quranic law, some applying a more strict and radical version of Islamic law than others.
As a result of such disparate variations, residents in the capital of Mogadishu complained, forcing the Council of Islamic Courts officials in October to set up an appeals court with better-educated judges.
The Council of Islamic Courts have swept through most of southern Somalia since taking over Mogadishu in June.
Their sometimes strict and often severe interpretation of Islam has raised the specter of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime, and contrasts with the moderate Islam that has dominated Somali culture for centuries.
Some of the courts have introduced public executions, floggings of convicts, bans on women swimming at Mogadishu's public beaches, and the sale and chewing of khat, a leafy stimulant consumed across the Horn of Africa and in the Middle East.

**troung** · 13 Dec 06,, 01:00

Islamic militants surround Somalia town

By ANTHONY MITCHELL Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
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BAIDOA, Somalia — Thousands of Islamic militants have surrounded the only town Somalia's internationally recognized government controls, the prime minister said Tuesday as a top Islamic official promised to attack within a week unless Ethiopian troops leave.

The surrounded town of Baidoa was teeming with soldiers Tuesday, with troops in new uniforms patrolling the city and manning checkpoints.

"I believe that war is inevitable because elements within the so-called Islamic Courts are against peace and stability in the country," Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told The Associated Press in his office in Baidoa.

Ethiopian troops are believed to be based around Baidoa, but were not immediately identifiable. Many Ethiopians are ethnically Somali and Ethiopian and Somali government troops wear the same uniforms.

Ethiopia acknowledges sending military advisers to help Gedi's internationally recognized government but denies sending a fighting force. A confidential U.N. report obtained by the AP in October said up to 8,000 Ethiopian troops were in Somalia or along the border backing the government.

"If the Ethiopians don't withdraw from Somalia within seven days, we will launch a major attack," Sheik Yusuf Indahaadde, national security chairman for the Islamic group, said in the capital, Mogadishu.

Tensions have been mounting in recent days between the increasingly powerful militia under the umbrella of a group known as the Council of Islamic Courts and Somalia's government, which has struggled to assert control.

Citing "intelligence reports," Gedi said the Islamists have 3,000 foreign fighters, with more arriving daily. He said four flights carrying weapons and troops arrived in Mogadishu two days ago, and a boat carrying 700 fighters arrived in Kismayo on Tuesday.

Attempts to reach Islamic officials for comment were not immediately successful.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other. Gedi's transitional government was formed two years ago but it has been unable to assert its authority over the country.

Since June, the Council of Islamic Courts has seized Mogadishu and taken control of much of southern Somalia. The group's strict interpretation of Islam has drawn comparisons to the Taliban, although many Somalis credit the council with bringing a semblance of order to a country that has seen little more than anarchy for more than a decade.

On Monday, Islamic militiamen were moving on the Ethiopian border town of Tiyeglow to try to seal the 1,000-mile frontier against advancing Ethiopian troops while trapping those already in Somalia.

Somali Information Minister Ali Ahmed Jama Jengali said Tuesday the government had established defense lines and was prepared for an attack on Baidoa.

Besides the political volatility, the impoverished nation is struggling to recover from the worst flood season in East Africa in 50 years. At least 230 people have died from floods and related waterborne diseases since October in Kenya, Somalia, Rwanda and Ethiopia, according to the U.N.'s World Food Program.

The rains were supposed to end by November, but are expected to continue through January in a region where drought left the soil so dry it was unable to absorb the deluge.

___

Associated Press Writer Mohamed Olad Hassan contributed to this report from Mogadishu.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...d/4396154.html

**troung** · 24 Dec 06,, 00:18

Ethiopian tanks roll to Somali battlefront

By Hassan Yare

BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) - Ethiopian tanks rolled to the battlefront on Friday as Somali Islamists and pro-government troops pounded each other with artillery and rockets in a fourth day of clashes edging closer to all-out war.

The Islamists said they would send ground troops to attack en masse on Saturday, as opposed to fighting from a distance with heavy weapons as they have been doing so far.

"Our troops have not started to attack. From tomorrow the attack will start," Islamist deputy spokesman Ibrahim Shukri told a news conference.

Witnesses near the fighting on two fronts near the government's encircled stronghold of Baidoa said they heard the rumble of armor before dawn.

"I was awakened this morning by heavy sounds of tanks. I woke up and saw seven Ethiopian tanks heading toward Daynunay," Baidoa resident Abdullahi Ali told Reuters.

The Ethiopian government declined to comment.

If the tanks engage in the battle it would raise the stakes in what is already the most sustained combat so far in a fight many fear could mushroom across the Horn of Africa, sucking in rivals Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Farmer Mohamed Adan said he saw the tanks moving outside Baidoa: "There were nearly 20. I understand some have been sent toward Daynunay while others have gone toward Idaale."

Daynunay is the government's forward military base about 20 km (12 miles) southeast of Baidoa. Ethiopia has said it has military trainers there, but not combat troops.

The other front, Idaale, is 70 km (44 miles) southwest of Baidoa, a southern agricultural trading post which is the only town the government controls.

NEW FRONT?

The Western-backed but largely ineffective government and the Somali Islamic Courts Council (SICC) say they have killed hundreds of each other's troops in four days of fighting across the desolate, brushy flatlands around Baidoa. The figures could not be independently verified.

Fighting began late on Tuesday, as an SICC deadline for Ethiopian troops to leave Somalia or face a holy war passed.

By Wednesday night, it was clear the European Union's announcement the same day that the two sides had agreed to restart peace talks and stop fighting had begun to ring hollow.

The SICC has taken control of most of southern Somalia by dint of its military might and imposition of strict sharia law.

Washington and what it sees as its top counter-terrorism ally in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, say the SICC is led by an al Qaeda cell, which the military-religious movement denies.

The SICC says it has the popular support the government lacks, bringing law and order to a nation convulsed with anarchy since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.

The SICC said Ethiopian troops were moving by air and ground toward Galkaayo, a strategic central Somali town held as a forward defense base by government-allied Puntland troops.

"We hope fighting will simultaneously start there too. We call upon the Somalis to rise up and join in the jihad against our enemy Ethiopia," SICC Secretary Ibrahim Suley told reporters.

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Ethiopia and Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, a Puntland native, are keen to keep the relatively stable, semi-autonomous Puntland region and its strategic ports out of SICC hands.

(Additional reporting by Bryson Hull in Nairobi and Guled Mohamed in Mogadishu)