Saturday, November 25, 2006
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AFP) - Fears for all-out war in Somalia have surged as powerful Islamists reinforced positions near the seat of the weak government, whose ally Ethiopia said it would not wait for approval to attack.
As the Islamists sent thousands of fighters and heavy equipment to frontline positions, the government warned of impending conflict and in neighboring Ethiopia, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said he needed no "green light" to fight.
The Islamists said they had reinforced areas outside government seat of Baidoa, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Mogadishu, anticipating imminent attack and accusing Ethiopia of sending air power.
Witnesses confirmed major troop movements.
"We are completely ready here on the frontlines and keeping inside our trenches," Islamist military chief Sheikh Muktar Robow told АFР Saturday. "We are facing the Ethiopian invaders. The only thing we expect is the start of battle."
"The Ethiopians have brought warplanes, including helicopters, and even heavy tanks to Baidoa," he said, calling them the "forces of the devil." "They are intending to wage an attack against us and we are ready for that."
The Islamists, who have declared holy war on the Ethiopians, and the government have been girding for battle near Baidoa for weeks, since the collapse of peace talks earlier this month, but in recent days have stepped up preparations.
In Baidoa, the government's deputy defense minister Salad Ali Jelle said the Islamist troop build-up was "provocative and irresponsible" but declined to comment on their claims of new Ethiopian reinforcements.
"They are making strategic errors," he told АFР. "We are aware of their unnecessary military maneuvers and we warn them to refrain from any movement that could ignite war."
In Addis Ababa, two days after announcing to parliament that Ethiopia had completed preparations for war, Meles told reporters he understood calls for restraint and was committed to dialogue but would defend his country.
"We respect their views but because it is our country which is being attacked, naturally we do not seek any light -- green, red, amber -- from anyone to protect ourselves," Meles told reporters.
"The international community should be more supportive of Ethiopia," he said, asserting as he did to lawmakers on Thursday that his nation faced a "clear and present danger" from the Islamists.
Fighters from all sides were encamped at positions less than 20 kilometers apart near the Islamist-held towns of Mode Mode and Burhakaba, 25 and 30 kilometers southeast of Baidoa.
Local residents said they had seen unprecedentedly large numbers of gunmen in the areas and expressed fear for their lives, already jeopardized by devastating floods that UN officials believe could be the worst in 50 years.
"I have never seen such a huge number of fighters around Burhakaba," resident Osman Ibarahim Rafiyo told АFР. "I saw more than 56 armed vehicles and thousands of Islamic militias pouring into the battlefield."
Mainly Christian Ethiopia has watched with growing concern the rise on its southeastern border of the Islamists, who seized Mogadishu in June and now control most of southern and central Somalia.
With a large ethnic Somali population, Ethiopia fears radicalization of its sizable Muslim minority by the Islamists, some of whom are accused of links to Al-Qaeda, who have imposed strict Sharia law in areas they control.
On Sunday and Tuesday, the Islamists said their holy warriors had carried out attacks on Ethiopian military convoys around Baidoa, but Meles denied any of his forces had yet been involved in combat.
Many in the international community fear that all-out conflict in Somalia could engulf the Horn of Africa, drawing in Ethiopia and its arch-foe neighbor Eritrea, which is accused of supporting the Islamists.
The two nations are among 10 countries accused of violating a 1992 UN arms embargo by sending huge amounts of weapons and materiel into Somalia. Along with the others, both Ethiopia and Eritrea deny any violations.
Somalia has been without a functioning central authority since the 1991 ousting of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre and the two-year-old transitional government has been unable to assert control.
Source: AFP, Nov 25, 2006