By Guled Mohamed
Thursday, December 28, 2006
MOGADISHU, Somalia (Reuters) - The flight of the Islamists was a dramatic turn-around in the Horn of Africa nation after they had spread across the south imposing sharia rule and confined the interim government to its base in Baidoa less than two weeks ago.
Terrified of yet more violence in a city that has become a byword for chaos, some Mogadishu residents took to the streets to cheer government troops, while others hid.
Scores of government military vehicles had passed the Somalia National University west of the city center, resident Abdikadar Abdulle said.
Prime Minister Ali Mohamad Gedi arrived in the capital later and had dinner with his deputy and former faction leader Hussein Mohamed Aideed, presidential envoy Abdirashid Sed told Britain's Channel 4 television.
"Now Mogadishu is safe. The people are coming out... the government forces as well as the community leaders are now in full control," he said.
Parts of Mogadishu shook with the sound of gunfire and there were outbreaks of looting after leaders of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) fled its base early in the morning. Some fighters ditched their uniforms to avoid reprisals.
"We have been defeated. I have removed my uniform. Most of my comrades have also changed into civilian clothes," one former SICC fighter told Reuters. "Most of our leaders have fled."
The fall of Mogadishu came about 10 days after the Islamists sought to march on the government base of Baidoa. That prompted Ethiopia to come openly into the war.
Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said the Islamists had fled to the southern port city of Kismayu and the administration controlled 95 percent of Somalia.
It was unclear what the SICC's next step would be and analysts said they could launch a protracted guerrilla campaign. Experts also questioned whether the weak Somali government could maintain security if the Ethiopians left.
"The idea that the Ethiopians can just bring this government from outside, plonk it down in the capital and walk away and everything will be solved -- I think that's very, very unrealistic," Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society, told Sky News in London.
TACTICAL MOVE
The SICC had brought a semblance of stability to Mogadishu after chasing U.S.-backed warlords from the city in June. Residents said order had collapsed with their departure.
"Mogadishu is now in chaos," Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed told Al Jazeera television.
Islamist defense lines were routed by a joint force of Ethiopian armor and government fighters.
Ahmed said the Islamists were united and determined to push out Ethiopian forces, but retreated to avoid more bloodshed.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi vowed to pursue the Islamist leaders. "We will not let Mogadishu burn," he added.
While the African Union (AU) has called for Meles to withdraw his forces "without delay," he has the tacit support of Washington in his push against the Islamists, analysts believe.
State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the situation in Mogadishu remained pretty fluid and the United States had no observers or official presence in the country.
"We don't believe that the ultimate solution to the situation in Somalia and the ultimate way of achieving everyone's goal in this, which is to have a functioning, stable government for the Somali people, can be achieved in the long run through violence," Casey told reporters in Washington.
The U.N. refugee agency said on Wednesday thousands had fled and were in a "desperate situation." On Thursday it said at least 17 people died and about 140 were missing after boats in which they were fleeing capsized off Yemen.
With Eritrea accused of backing the Islamists, many had feared the conflict would engulf the Horn. Ethiopia, like the United States, says the Islamists are supported by al Qaeda.
U.N. experts have accused 10 nations of providing arms, expertise and men to both sides. An al Qaeda-backed group in Iraq posted a statement on the Internet this week urging Muslims to support the Islamists.
The SICC has depicted the conflict with Christian-led Ethiopia, which has one of Africa's most effective armies, as a holy war against "crusaders," tapping into decades of rivalry.
Source: Reuters, Dec 28, 2006