Somali Islamists briefly occupy 3 small towns near the capital
November 13, 2008 (MOGADISHU) — Somali Islamist insurgents briefly occupied three small towns on the outskirts of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Thursday, but melted away as Ethiopian forces headed south from the city to confront them.
The Islamists control most of southern Somalia and on Wednesday seized Merka, a strategic port 90 km (56 miles) southwest of Mogadishu, giving them their closest foothold yet to the capital.
Masked fighters from the Al-Shabaab group — on Washington’s list of foreign terrorist groups — moved into the towns of Elasha, Arbis and Lafoole overnight, terrifying many residents already uprooted by the guerrillas’ two-year-old rebellion.
“We could see them wearing masks and marching here and there. We were so afraid we could not leave our houses,” resident Bile Farah told Reuters by telephone from Elasha.
“Al Shabaab men disappeared when they heard Ethiopian military convoys were approaching. Now the place is calm and Ethiopian troops are patrolling the area.”
The Al-Shebab is the resurgent military and youth wing of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) which briefly ruled most of the country before being ousted in 2006 by Ethiopian troops who rescued an embattled transitional government.
The group has made significant military gains in recent months and now controls most of southern and central Somalia, some parts of Mogadishu and the parliamentary town of Baidoa excepted.
A day after capturing the key port of Merka, only 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu, the Shebab imposed Sharia law on the town but national police spokesman Abdulahi Hasan said the government would fight back.
“We will be sending government forces to the region to liberate it from the violent people who want to derail the peace pact that has been signed by the government and the opposition alliance,” he told reporters.
Al Shebab fighters took control of the town unopposed on Wednesday and were welcomed by many residents who had grown weary of the disorder and corruption that prevailed under the rule of local clan militias.
“Our aim is to implement Islamic Sharia in the region and everybody should know that we are equal,” Shebab commander Mohamed Sheikh Abdi Muse told a crowd of residents, ordering all businesses shut during prayers.
“No one will be more important than the other and people should respect each other by obeying the orders of Allah,” he said.
The capture of Merka on Wednesday gave the Islamists a new base for their near-daily attacks on the Western-backed interim government and its Ethiopian military allies.
It also looked sure to set back a U.N.-brokered peace process for the Horn of Africa nation, which has been stuck in civil conflict for the last 17 years.
Al Shabaab has rejected a tentative, U.N.-negotiated pact to set up a power-sharing administration between the government and some moderate Islamists opposition figures.
(ST)