Friday, January 16, 2009
According to witnesses and officials, the forces of Abdirahin Ise Ado -- from the moderate wing of the Islamist-led opposition to the government -- now control key positions in the Somali capital.
"Our forces have taken control of areas deserted by the Ethiopians in order to maintain security," said Ise Ado, a spokesman for the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), at a press conference.
Residents told AFP his forces had taken over the former defence ministry, a former pasta factory and a stadium, all positions Ethiopian troops only withdrew from earlier this week.
"Islamists in dozens of vehicles took the former defence ministry building after the Ethiopians left the Shirkole area. They were chanting 'Allah is great'," eyewitness Hasan Farah Doyow said.
The ICU is an Islamist movement which briefly controlled large parts of Somalia in 2006 before Ethiopian forces invaded and ousted them from power.
The ICU's military organisation engaged in a bruising guerrilla war against Ethiopian and Somali government troops while its political leadership scattered into exile.
It became part of an umbrella organisation founded in Eritrea called the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS).
One faction of the ARS has agreed to a peace process with the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) under the auspices of the United Nations.
An agreement reached late last year in Djibouti provided for an Ethiopian withdrawal and a gradual transfer of responsibilities to joint units including TFG and ARS forces.
Source: AFP, Jan 16, 2009