MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Ethiopian tanks rumbled south from Mogadishu to attack Somali Islamists on Saturday after their hardline clerical leader reportedly exhorted his fighters to make a final stand in the port city of Kismayu.
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys apparently made the call during Friday prayers at a Kismayu mosque, a day after his Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) fighters fled the capital in the face of government troops backed by Ethiopian armor.
"If that is true then it is likely the Ethiopians are going to finish him," a military expert who tracks events in the Horn of Africa country told Reuters.
Crowning a dramatic turnaround after a 10-day land and air offensive by Ethiopia in support of Somalia's weak interim government, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi swept into Mogadishu on Friday saying the fight for political survival had been won.
But the SICC leaders promised resistance -- despite their hasty retreat -- and as Gedi settled into the capital, government troops and Ethiopian forces pursued them south.
"JIHAD GOES ON"
Ethiopian fighter jets were seen over Kismayu and nearby Jilib town on Friday and Saturday, the military expert said.
A Somali government soldier said the Islamists -- accused by Addis Ababa and Washington of being backed by Al Qaeda -- had laced the highway from Mogadishu with mines as they pulled back.
"We are heading to Jilib in a convoy of 15 Ethiopian tanks," Ahmednur Yasin told Reuters by telephone. "There are more forces heading to Buale and I am sure the fighting will start soon."
"All the terrorists are in Jilib and Kismayu," said a senior Somali government source.
The Islamists said they knew they were going to be attacked.
"We will fight the Ethiopian invaders. The jihad will not stop," said one SICC fighter who asked not be named.
Parliament was expected to vote on Saturday to declare three months of martial law aimed at disarming thousands of militia loyal to a host of former warlords blamed for years of anarchy.
Gedi's government depends almost entirely on Addis Ababa for its military muscle, analysts say, and it was far from clear how it would maintain security if or when leave.
Residents and analysts fear a guerrilla war by the SICC.
(Additional reporting by Guled Mohamed in Mogadishu)
This is what bothers me so much. I spent part of the evening with a guy who wanted to appear so worldly his ex is a Belarousian (sp?) and because he has seen alot of Eastern Europe he think he understand the world. Of course his knowledge also applies to the horn of Africa but he can't name what nations make up the horn of Africa.
This is what bites me, Ethiopia had a civil war for 30 years much of it based on secretarian riffs, essentially religion.
Ethiopia wouldn't have gotten involved unless the US state department asked them too.
Alot of Muslim Ethopians fled to Somalia because the UN refugee relief programs didn't consider them Ethiopians because of their faith. It burns me up.
I don't agree with the Islamist taking over in the manner that they did, it was over the top and it was creating a choke hold on the country like the Taliban had on Afghanistan, no one wins when that happens. And from what I had heard, from a very resolute Somali Islamist, the same Islamist who cordinated the take-over got their military training in Afghanistan from the Taliban. She was fricking proud!
Then a few weeks ago there was news reports that Mubarak was backing the ISlamists in Somalia. Which I am sure isn't the full picture and basically a half truth.
But Somalia is surrounded by CHristian majority nations that recieve alot of investment from the UN and has a very antagonistic approach to Somalia. Plus alot of these nations surrounding Somalia were recieving Israeli hydrologist engineering development to reduce the flow of the Nile to Egypt. The "interium" government of Somalia or the Islamist (no actual news source would indicate which) showed interest in recieving the same type of Israeli hydrologist backing.
It puts Egypt in the hot spot, Egypt backs the Arab oppresors in Sudan then Egypt loses an ability to put their hand in Somalian affairs without appearing biased based on secretarian idiotacy.
Whats more important to Egypt and Mubarak? Having the Somali interium government which appears to be a UN puppet instead of having a Islamist government which just might attract a few MB to make alliances with these hoodlums and watch those alliances sink the MB. Or to back the Arab oppressors in Sudan in exchange for some rather inexpensive natural resources and an opportunity to dump Sudan's refugees back in their own pool and force them to Arabize.
I mean seriously Mubarak and Egypt can't have it both ways.
Posts: 3168 | From: If you don't like it, don't look or read it! | Registered: Oct 2006
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what I had heard, from a very resolute Somali Islamist, the same Islamist who cordinated the take-over got their military training in Afghanistan from the Taliban. She was fricking proud!
[/QB]
Haha, and why shouldn't she be? She received the best training from the Taliban. The Taliban have received the very best training from the CIA. Doesn't get any better then that.
Posts: 3595 | From: Moved To Mars. Waiting with shotgun | Registered: Dec 2006
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what I had heard, from a very resolute Somali Islamist, the same Islamist who cordinated the take-over got their military training in Afghanistan from the Taliban. She was fricking proud!
Haha, and why shouldn't she be? She received the best training from the Taliban. The Taliban have received the very best training from the CIA. Doesn't get any better then that. [/QB]
What on earth makes you think a Somali woman has ever been trained to hold a gun?
meninarmer, for your information Congressman CHarlie Rose a liberal from Texas (should be easy to find) had funded the Rebel fighters in Afghanistan. Muhujadin (sp?) had later fought the Taliban, so your information is woefully incorrect. But some of those Muhujadin had switched sides. Charlie Rose had misappropriated funds to be rerouted to the Muhujadin, he had even lied to the CIA about his dealings in the Muhujadin. Charlie Rose had lied to everyone.
I'll give a synopis of the book later, the book was given to me by a friend and I have it at home.
So the CIA didn't train the Taliban or the Muhujadin, the CIA had been lied to by a Texan Congressman and one of its own who had security clearance but wasn't a full time CIA staff member, I can't remember his name but he was a Greek and he did work for the CIA several times and also for other nation's intel units. So this CIA guy wasn't even working for the US when this transpired, he was "self-employed intel specialist".
What I don't understand is when a journalist writes these books, very few Americans read these books that explain what had actually transpired and some bogus Froggie references the book totally mistating the content of the book.
Ever heard of the Chinese telegraph?
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And what about those pictues shows you those women know how to hold a gun?
The first pic isn't exactly an ISlamist uniform.
I'll listen to the NPR recording from last June, thanks for posting it!
But seriously I don't think that any woman was trained by the Taliban in Afghanistan, it kinda goes against the burqa crusade of the Taliban.
I know that women are being trained in Libya for bombing missions in Palestine and have been trained there for decades.
The point I was trying to make with posting two articles is Mubarak has to chose between the two conflicts. But I understand his motivations for wanting to back the Arabs in Dafur, its a historical tradition to Arabize Sudan and it will keep Sudanese from flooding Egypt.
Considering that Arabizing a group of people by force is more important than human rights to Mubarak.
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Sharm el Sheikh - Egypt said on Thursday it understood why Ethiopia intervened militarily against Islamists in Somalia, despite an earlier Arab consensus that Ethiopian troops should withdraw.
Egyptian presidential spokesperson Suleiman Awad said President Hosni Mubarak stated the Egyptian position at a meeting with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin.
"President Mubarak expressed his understanding for the reasons behind the Ethiopian intervention in Somalia, which was based upon the request of the legitimate interim Somali government," Awad told reporters after the meeting.
Before the Somali government and Ethiopian troops captured the capital Mogadishu last month, Arab governments said unanimously that Ethiopian troops should leave the country, which is a member of the Cairo-based Arab League.
But conservative Arab governments such as Egypt's also had reservations about the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC), which had imposed sharia law across much of southern Somalia.
Awad added that Mubarak said he supported the deployment of an African peacekeeping force in Somalia.
The SICC fled Mogadishu last week in the face of advancing government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks and warplanes.
Many Somalis say they resent the government as an Ethiopian puppet propelled to power by Ethiopian troops, and analysts say the SICC may still launch an insurgency against a government they see as supported by a hated, Christian-led "occupier".
In November, a UN report said Egypt was among a number of countries had provided training to the SICC.
It said a senior retired Egyptian officer, who is also a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was aboard a vessel carrying arms to Somalia.
At the time, an Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the report was "totally untrue".
What did I say about Mubarak using the invasion as a way of hanging the MB?
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Of course his knowledge also applies to the horn of Africa but he can't name what nations make up the horn of Africa. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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