Ethiopian, govt troops occupy Somali town – Witnesses
Oct 15, 2006 (BAIDOA, Somalia) — Ethiopian troops alongside government forces entered a southern Somali town Sunday, residents said, in a move likely to further strain tensions with Islamic radicals who are tightening their grip on the war-ravaged country.
Well-armed troops aboard seven trucks mounted with machine guns arrived in the agricultural town of Dinsor, telling residents to remain calm and that the government was in control of the area, witnesses said. The forces then left, residents told The AP.
On Monday, witnesses said hundreds of Ethiopian and government troops forced Islamic fighters to abandon Bur Haqaba, a strategic hilltop town. They said the forces later withdrew.
That move prompted the Islamic forces to declare a holy war against Ethiopia, accusing them of deploying thousands of troops into Somalia to prop up the country’s weak, U.N.-backed government. Ethiopian leader Meles Zenawi said he was ready to defend his country if attacked.
“Some Ethiopians accompanied the government troops, but I don’t know their exact number,” said Yusuf Igaal, a businessman in Dinsor.
“They were telling us that they were in control and not to worry,” shopkeeper Mohamed Abdi Salam told The AP by telephone.
Both pro-government militia and fighters loyal to Islamic radicals have been positioning themselves in recent days amid fears of a major encounter, after a series of small skirmishes.
They clashed in a strategic seaport on Friday, hours after a smaller skirmish near Bu’aale, some 350 kilometers south of Baidoa, the only town controlled by the government. Islamic forces have based themselves in Bu’aale while the government’s defense minister, Col. Barre “Hirale” Aden Shire, is encamped at Sakow, 55 kilometers away, residents say.
Dinsor is 125 kilometers from Bu’aale, an important military town because it straddles a vital bridge linking Baidoa to southern Somalia and the key port of Kismayo. Shire’s forces have vowed to recapture the port after losing control to Islamic militia on September 23. Later Sunday, Ethiopia denied its troops had entered Dinsor.
Sightings of Ethiopian troops in Somalia have been increasing since July, despite their repeated denials. Somalia’s government also publicly denies it is being supported by Ethiopian troops. However, government officials say about 6,000 Ethiopian troops are in the country or encamped on the 1,600 kilometer porous border. Ethiopia, with almost half of its 77 million population Muslim, is fearful of a neighboring fundamentalist state.
Fears of new fighting have sparked a mass exodus of refugees into neighboring Kenya, and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has called for international support to help stabilize Somalia. Some 30,000 refugees have flooded across the border since the beginning of the year, the U.N. says.
Meanwhile, Islamic radicals in the capital, Mogadishu, closed down a second radio station Sunday, just days after introducing strict new laws for the media in the war-ravaged country.
Somalia hasn’t had an effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohammed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy.
The Ethiopian-backed government was formed in 2004 with U.N. help in hopes of restoring order after years of bloodshed.
But it has never asserted much authority, and the Islamic group has stepped into the power vacuum. Its strict and often severe interpretation of Islam raises the specter of Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime.
The U.S. has accused the Islamic group of sheltering suspects in the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, while al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden has said Somalia is a battleground in his war on the West.
(AP)