Islamists clash with government forces for first time
Reuters
July 22, 2006
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's Islamist militia briefly fought government forces on Saturday -- the first clash between the two sides and one that many Somalis fear may signal a slide to war in the Horn of Africa country.
Government militia seized and set on fire two "technicals" -- heavily armed pickup trucks that are Somalia's version of tanks -- in fighting in the remote Qoryooley district, an Islamist source told Reuters.
There was no word on any casualties in the clash, the first since Islamists captured Mogadishu from warlords on June 5, challenging the slim authority of President Abdullahi Yusuf's Western-backed government.
Witnesses said government forces brought one of the Islamists' battlewagons back to Baidoa, the government's provincial base, bolstered by the reported deployment of Ethiopian troops across the border in recent days.
Diplomats fear Somalia is on the verge of major conflict after the newly powerful Islamists moved closer to Baidoa this week and quit talks with the government on Saturday, dashing hopes of a quick diplomatic breakthrough.
"We do not negotiate with a government which is being helped by the enemy of Somalia," senior Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said in a letter to Islamist delegates to the talks, in a reference to Ethiopia.
The Islamist leadership, vowing holy war, has called on Somalia's 10 million people to prepare to fight against the foreign troops, while Addis Ababa threatened to crush any attack on the Somali government.
Despite Ethiopia's repeated denials of reports that it has sent troops into Somalia, residents and aid workers in the southwestern town of Wajid said Ethiopian soldiers seized the airport overnight from gunmen working for the local authorities.
Two helicopters carrying Ethiopian troops landed at the airport on Saturday afternoon, they said. "Ethiopian military have been landing at the airport," said one Wajid resident, who did not want to be named.
MILITARY MOVES
Traditionally Christian Ethiopia fears a hardline Muslim state on its doorstep and possible Islamist aspirations to create a "Greater Somalia" that would incorporate Ethiopia's southeastern, ethnically Somali, Ogaden region.
Analysts believe Ethiopia, the Horn's dominant power, has sent up to 5,000 troops into Somalia, and is massing more on the border to deter Islamist advances
A source close to Somali government leaders admitted the presence of Ethiopian troops on Somali soil.
"They are there, but not in the big numbers people are saying. But believe me, if the Islamists attack, they will come," said the source, who did not wish to be named.
"Our national army is not set up yet, and they have many militias, so we need assistance."
Several residents of Baidoa said more Ethiopian troops and armored vehicles arrived overnight to guard the parliament, presidential palace and airport.
"The Ethiopian troops have changed their uniforms and are now wearing the same clothes as the Somali government soldiers," said former militiaman and Baidoa resident Abdirizak Adan.
The government imposed a curfew on Baidoa three days ago, he added.
More than 50 of the Islamists' pickup trucks mounted with heavy weapons left Mogadishu, and after being joined by Eritrean and Ethiopian rebel forces were heading for Baidoa and Buur Hakaba, a town 60 kms (37 miles) away, residents said.
The reported movements could not be independently verified.
Analysts say possible Eritrean involvement may be driven by poor relations with Addis Ababa, deadlocked over an unresolved border dispute. In a May report, the United Nations accused Asmara of funneling arms to the Somali Islamists during their rise to power -- a charge Eritrea denies.
(Additional reporting by Mohammed Abbas in Khartoum)
Ethiopian troops move into 2nd Somali town
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Ethiopian troops moved into a second Somali town on Saturday to protect the country's weak, U.N.-backed government.
Talks aimed at easing tensions in this Horn of Africa nation fell apart.
About 200 Ethiopian troops, driving in pickup trucks mounted with machine guns, moved into Wajid and took control of the airport, witnesses said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals. Wajid is a U.N. aid base 46 miles southeast of the Somali-Ethiopian border.
Arab League talks in Sudan on Saturday were designed to ease the situation in Somalia, where the Islamist militia captured the capital, Mogadishu, from warlords and then consolidated its control over most of southern Somalia. Both sides signed a temporary cease-fire agreement June 22.
But the Islamists walked out of the talks Saturday because of the Ethiopian incursion, and the government side said it would not attend until it received international guarantees that any agreement would be respected.
"The Somali government has violated the accord and allowed Ethiopian troops to enter Somali soil," said Abdirahman Janaqaw, the deputy leader of the Islamic courts' executive council.
Ethiopian and Somali government officials have denied Ethiopian troops are in the country.
"There is not a single Ethiopian solider on Somali soil. I deny that the Ethiopians have taken control of Wajid. Our troops control there," Deputy Information Minister Salad Ali Jeeley told The Associated Press in Baidoa, where the fragile transitional government is based.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, carving much of the country into armed camps ruled by violence and clan law.
In Wajid, residents said the Ethiopian troops did not meet any resistance when they took over the airport. Aid workers and U.N. staff in the town also said there were Ethiopian soldiers in Wajid. They, too, asked not to be identified by name because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Wajid, which has experienced relative peace compared with other southern Somalia towns, such as Baidoa, is run by a clan-based administration that has not allied itself with the transitional government or with the Islamists.
Ethiopian troops first moved into Somalia on Thursday to protect the government, which has been challenged for power by Islamic militants. More than 400 Ethiopian troops entered Baidoa, 150 miles northwest of the capital, Mogadishu, which the Islamic militia controls.
The Islamic militia's leader responded to the Ethiopian incursion by calling on all Somalis to wage holy war against Ethiopia, a largely Christian country that is Somalia's traditional enemy.
Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, in a radio broadcast on Friday, said Ethiopia was seeking to bolster what he described as the puppet regime of President Abdullahi Yusuf, his longtime rival.
Residents of Baidoa reported seeing hundreds of Ethiopian troops entering Baidoa on Thursday and taking up positions around Yusuf's compound.
Somali government leaders may be reluctant to acknowledge that Ethiopian troops have come to their aid because they do not want to appear to be beholden to the country's traditional adversary.
Ethiopia's move could give the internationally recognized Somali government its only chance of curbing the Islamic militia's increasing power. But the incursion could also be the pretext the militiamen need to build public support for a guerrilla war.
Somalia declares holy war
MOGADISHU (July 21) - The leader of Somalia's Islamic courts union on Friday declared a "holy war" against neighbouring Ethiopia, whose troops have moved into the country to protect its weak transitional government, Reuters reported today.
"The Somali people have to fight against Ethiopia, this is a holy war in which we are defending our country," Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said on local radio, speaking from his native Galgudud region in central Somalia.
"The Ethiopians have invaded our country and we must force them out of the country and this will be a holy war of Jihad."
Aweys' Islamists, who have taken control [of] the capital Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia, have demanded the immediate withdrawal of Ethiopians who according to eyewitnesses sent more military vehicles into Baidoa, the seat of the transitional government, overnight.
In Baidoa, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Mogadishu, residents said at least nine more large Ethiopian military vehicles carrying supplies, but no troops, moved into the town early on Friday.
These followed an initial convoy of more than 100 trucks with several hundred Ethiopian soldiers that witnesses said rolled into Baidoa and surrounding areas Thursday, after Islamist militia advanced on a nearby town.
Ethiopia has said it will defend the transitional government from any attack by the Islamists, who it and the US accuse of harboring extremists, including Al-Qaeda members wanted for attacks in east Africa.
Somalia has been wracked by lawlessness since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, which plunged the nation of about 10 million people into anarchic bloodletting.
US cautions Ethiopia on Somalia
Meanwhile, the United States has cautioned Ethiopia not to become embroiled in Somalia, although it could not confirm reports Ethiopian troops were already in the country, a senior U.S. official said on Friday, Reuters reported on Friday.
"We have told them not to get drawn into this provocation," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer told journalists by video-conference.
Witnesses said Ethiopian troops moved closer to Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Friday, putting pressure on Islamists who have risen to power in the Horn of Africa nation and challenging the authority of its Western-backed interim government.
Frazer said Washington believed "hardline elements" within the so-called Islamic courts group wanted to extend their territorial control and hoped that more moderate players within the Islamist camp would prevail.
"Why aren't the moderate elements speaking out versus this element that is trying to spark a conflict?" she said.
Frazer said the United States has heard reports international elements were entering Somalia, but did not give any details.
"There are obviously foreign terrorists in Somalia," Frazer said.
The Islamists took Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords in June, complicating efforts to re-establish centralised control over a chaotic country that has not had a central government since the 1991 ouster of a dictator.
Ethiopia has denied incursions into Somalia but threatened to crush any Islamist bid to take Baidoa -- the seat of the provisional government -- or cross the border.
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July 22, 2006
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's Islamist militia briefly fought government forces on Saturday -- the first clash between the two sides and one that many Somalis fear may signal a slide to war in the Horn of Africa country.
Government militia seized and set on fire two "technicals" -- heavily armed pickup trucks that are Somalia's version of tanks -- in fighting in the remote Qoryooley district, an Islamist source told Reuters.
There was no word on any casualties in the clash, the first since Islamists captured Mogadishu from warlords on June 5, challenging the slim authority of President Abdullahi Yusuf's Western-backed government.
Witnesses said government forces brought one of the Islamists' battlewagons back to Baidoa, the government's provincial base, bolstered by the reported deployment of Ethiopian troops across the border in recent days.
Diplomats fear Somalia is on the verge of major conflict after the newly powerful Islamists moved closer to Baidoa this week and quit talks with the government on Saturday, dashing hopes of a quick diplomatic breakthrough.
"We do not negotiate with a government which is being helped by the enemy of Somalia," senior Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said in a letter to Islamist delegates to the talks, in a reference to Ethiopia.
The Islamist leadership, vowing holy war, has called on Somalia's 10 million people to prepare to fight against the foreign troops, while Addis Ababa threatened to crush any attack on the Somali government.
Despite Ethiopia's repeated denials of reports that it has sent troops into Somalia, residents and aid workers in the southwestern town of Wajid said Ethiopian soldiers seized the airport overnight from gunmen working for the local authorities.
Two helicopters carrying Ethiopian troops landed at the airport on Saturday afternoon, they said. "Ethiopian military have been landing at the airport," said one Wajid resident, who did not want to be named.
MILITARY MOVES
Traditionally Christian Ethiopia fears a hardline Muslim state on its doorstep and possible Islamist aspirations to create a "Greater Somalia" that would incorporate Ethiopia's southeastern, ethnically Somali, Ogaden region.
Analysts believe Ethiopia, the Horn's dominant power, has sent up to 5,000 troops into Somalia, and is massing more on the border to deter Islamist advances
A source close to Somali government leaders admitted the presence of Ethiopian troops on Somali soil. "They are there, but not in the big numbers people are saying. But believe me, if the Islamists attack, they will come," said the source, who did not wish to be named.
"Our national army is not set up yet, and they have many militias, so we need assistance."
Several residents of Baidoa said more Ethiopian troops and armored vehicles arrived overnight to guard the parliament, presidential palace and airport.
"The Ethiopian troops have changed their uniforms and are now wearing the same clothes as the Somali government soldiers," said former militiaman and Baidoa resident Abdirizak Adan.
The government imposed a curfew on Baidoa three days ago, he added.
More than 50 of the Islamists' pickup trucks mounted with heavy weapons left Mogadishu, and after being joined by Eritrean and Ethiopian rebel forces were heading for Baidoa and Buur Hakaba, a town 60 kms (37 miles) away, residents said.
The reported movements could not be independently verified.
Analysts say possible Eritrean involvement may be driven by poor relations with Addis Ababa, deadlocked over an unresolved border dispute. In a May report, the United Nations accused Asmara of funneling arms to the Somali Islamists during their rise to power -- a charge Eritrea denies.
(Additional reporting by Mohammed Abbas in Khartoum)
Ethiopian troops move into 2nd Somali town
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Ethiopian troops moved into a second Somali town on Saturday to protect the country's weak, U.N.-backed government.
Talks aimed at easing tensions in this Horn of Africa nation fell apart.
About 200 Ethiopian troops, driving in pickup trucks mounted with machine guns, moved into Wajid and took control of the airport, witnesses said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals. Wajid is a U.N. aid base 46 miles southeast of the Somali-Ethiopian border.
Arab League talks in Sudan on Saturday were designed to ease the situation in Somalia, where the Islamist militia captured the capital, Mogadishu, from warlords and then consolidated its control over most of southern Somalia. Both sides signed a temporary cease-fire agreement June 22.
But the Islamists walked out of the talks Saturday because of the Ethiopian incursion, and the government side said it would not attend until it received international guarantees that any agreement would be respected.
"The Somali government has violated the accord and allowed Ethiopian troops to enter Somali soil," said Abdirahman Janaqaw, the deputy leader of the Islamic courts' executive council.
Ethiopian and Somali government officials have denied Ethiopian troops are in the country.
"There is not a single Ethiopian solider on Somali soil. I deny that the Ethiopians have taken control of Wajid. Our troops control there," Deputy Information Minister Salad Ali Jeeley told The Associated Press in Baidoa, where the fragile transitional government is based.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, carving much of the country into armed camps ruled by violence and clan law.
In Wajid, residents said the Ethiopian troops did not meet any resistance when they took over the airport. Aid workers and U.N. staff in the town also said there were Ethiopian soldiers in Wajid. They, too, asked not to be identified by name because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Wajid, which has experienced relative peace compared with other southern Somalia towns, such as Baidoa, is run by a clan-based administration that has not allied itself with the transitional government or with the Islamists.
Ethiopian troops first moved into Somalia on Thursday to protect the government, which has been challenged for power by Islamic militants. More than 400 Ethiopian troops entered Baidoa, 150 miles northwest of the capital, Mogadishu, which the Islamic militia controls.
The Islamic militia's leader responded to the Ethiopian incursion by calling on all Somalis to wage holy war against Ethiopia, a largely Christian country that is Somalia's traditional enemy.
Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, in a radio broadcast on Friday, said Ethiopia was seeking to bolster what he described as the puppet regime of President Abdullahi Yusuf, his longtime rival.
Residents of Baidoa reported seeing hundreds of Ethiopian troops entering Baidoa on Thursday and taking up positions around Yusuf's compound.
Somali government leaders may be reluctant to acknowledge that Ethiopian troops have come to their aid because they do not want to appear to be beholden to the country's traditional adversary.
Ethiopia's move could give the internationally recognized Somali government its only chance of curbing the Islamic militia's increasing power. But the incursion could also be the pretext the militiamen need to build public support for a guerrilla war.
Somalia declares holy war
MOGADISHU (July 21) - The leader of Somalia's Islamic courts union on Friday declared a "holy war" against neighbouring Ethiopia, whose troops have moved into the country to protect its weak transitional government, Reuters reported today.
"The Somali people have to fight against Ethiopia, this is a holy war in which we are defending our country," Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys said on local radio, speaking from his native Galgudud region in central Somalia.
"The Ethiopians have invaded our country and we must force them out of the country and this will be a holy war of Jihad."
Aweys' Islamists, who have taken control [of] the capital Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia, have demanded the immediate withdrawal of Ethiopians who according to eyewitnesses sent more military vehicles into Baidoa, the seat of the transitional government, overnight.
In Baidoa, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Mogadishu, residents said at least nine more large Ethiopian military vehicles carrying supplies, but no troops, moved into the town early on Friday.
These followed an initial convoy of more than 100 trucks with several hundred Ethiopian soldiers that witnesses said rolled into Baidoa and surrounding areas Thursday, after Islamist militia advanced on a nearby town.
Ethiopia has said it will defend the transitional government from any attack by the Islamists, who it and the US accuse of harboring extremists, including Al-Qaeda members wanted for attacks in east Africa.
Somalia has been wracked by lawlessness since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, which plunged the nation of about 10 million people into anarchic bloodletting.
US cautions Ethiopia on Somalia
Meanwhile, the United States has cautioned Ethiopia not to become embroiled in Somalia, although it could not confirm reports Ethiopian troops were already in the country, a senior U.S. official said on Friday, Reuters reported on Friday.
"We have told them not to get drawn into this provocation," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer told journalists by video-conference.
Witnesses said Ethiopian troops moved closer to Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Friday, putting pressure on Islamists who have risen to power in the Horn of Africa nation and challenging the authority of its Western-backed interim government.
Frazer said Washington believed "hardline elements" within the so-called Islamic courts group wanted to extend their territorial control and hoped that more moderate players within the Islamist camp would prevail.
"Why aren't the moderate elements speaking out versus this element that is trying to spark a conflict?" she said.
Frazer said the United States has heard reports international elements were entering Somalia, but did not give any details.
"There are obviously foreign terrorists in Somalia," Frazer said.
The Islamists took Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords in June, complicating efforts to re-establish centralised control over a chaotic country that has not had a central government since the 1991 ouster of a dictator.
Ethiopia has denied incursions into Somalia but threatened to crush any Islamist bid to take Baidoa -- the seat of the provisional government -- or cross the border.
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