Friday, October 06, 2006
By Mohamed Olad Hassan
Baidoa, Somalia - Somalia's radical Islamic militia advanced to a border village with Kenya in pickup trucks fitted with machine guns before withdrawing as Kenyan military helicopters flew over their side of the border, a driver and Islamic courts official have said.
The militiamen travelled to Liboi village on the Somali side of the border in 15 pickup trucks Thursday, said truck driver Bashir Haji Ali, who saw them from the Kenyan side of the border.
Abu Zeynab, a spokesperson for the Islamic militia based in the seaport Kismayo, confirmed that the men went to Liboi midmorning Thursday before retreating to their base at Af Madow, about 140km east of the border.
"We went there to check the security in the area and for no other reason. During our operation, we asked local militia who have checkpoints to join us and we will rehabilitate them," Zeynab told The Associated Press on the phone from Kismayo.
On Wednesday, Islamic militiamen advanced to within 20km of Baidoa, the only town controlled by the government, the closest the fighters have made it to the fragile administration's headquarters.
The militia, which has seized much of southern Somalia since taking over the capital, Mogadishu, in June, reached Moode Moode on Tuesday night, local militia leader Mohammed Ibrahim Bilal said. The group has started 24-hour patrols in the area, he said.
Abdirahman Dinari, a spokesperson for the Baidoa-based government, described the militia's advance as "a provocative action."
Earlier Wednesday, Islamic leaders held a rally that drew a crowd of at least 5 000 mostly women and students in the port city of Kismayo, and vowed to wage holy war against any group that tries to stop their military advances.
The militia seized Kismayo, one of the last remaining ports outside their control and Somalia's third-largest city, last week without a fight.
But thousands turned out to protest the group after they arrived, and a 13-year-old was killed when the radicals opened fire. Several smaller protests were held despite the violence that met the initial demonstration.
Somalia has not 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.
A transitional government was formed in 2004 with UN help in hopes of restoring order after years of lawlessness. But it has struggled to assert authority, while the Islamic movement seized the capital, Mogadishu, in June and now controls much of the south.
The Islamic group's strict and often severe interpretation of Islam raises memories of Afghanistan's Taliban, which was ousted by a US-led campaign for harbouring Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda fighters.
The United States has accused Somalia's Islamic group of sheltering suspects in the 1998 al-Qaeda bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Bin Laden has said Somalia is a battleground in his war on the West.
Source: AP, Oct. 6, 2006