Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
Whenever plunderers and warlords come to power! Results is what we see over there in Somalia! Same happened in Afghanistan!
And now its Somalia!
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
Update.
ICC appears to be in reteat, Ethiopians approaching Mogadishu. ICC are reported as withdrawing without heavily engaging the Ethiopians.
Maddy Analysis
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It is possible that ICC troops are unwilling to engage the Ethiopians. But given the historic animosity and the religious dimension to the conflict, this is unlikely. it is more likely that the ICC seems to want to conserve its forces for a later battle.
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It’s interesting that both the commander of the ICC’s armed forced and his deputy are not leading their troops at the moment. They have instead gone on hajj. Could the ICC’s withdrawal represent the commanders covering their absence being worried about engaging too heavily without the actual leaders beign around? They might be trying to preserve the men until the ICC leaders return from Mecca.
Ethiopian and Somali government forces are advancing towards Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, which is currently held by the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC).
Earlier, they seized the strategic town of Jowhar, 90 km from the capital, from Islamist militias during a dawn attack.
At the weekend Ethiopia began a major offensive against the UIC, which held much of central and southern Somalia.
Jowhar is a former UIC stronghold, and its loss leaves the Islamists with control of little more than the coast.
The Ethiopian and pro-government Somali troops are reported to be only 30 km from Mogadishu.
In Jowhar, residents told the BBC they had seen government forces riding on top of Ethiopian armoured vehicles in Jowhar.
The UIC still holds Mogadishu, and the southern port city of Kismayo.
Leaders of the militia have admitted pulling out of many towns. Reports suggest that the Islamists evacuated many towns without putting up a fight.
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
^
The ICC military leaders being in Mecca at the same time seems absurd...could they really be that clueless? Sounds like a slight subterfuge to infalte the confidence of their opponents.
All indications seem to be a preference by the UIC to take the battle to the streeets of Mogadishu. I don't know if Ethopian armor is advanced...but their fear of entering into Mogadishu makes one think that they are fearful of an urban confrontation with the UIC.
It will be interesting if Eritrea will play the role of seige breaker here...
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
The Ohioguy analysis: Islamists are getting their butts kicked.
**slamist Forces in Somalia Are in Retreat **
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec. 27 — Ethiopian-backed forces continued to beat back Islamist fighters in Somalia today, advancing to within 15 miles of Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, as diplomatic pressure increased for the Ethiopians to pull out.
The African Union, which had supported Ethiopia’s incursion into Somalia, issued a statement that said, “We appeal for urgent support for the transitional government and the withdrawal of all troops and foreign elements from Somalia.”
The Arab League also weighed in today, calling for “an immediate and comprehensive cease-fire.”
But the fighting showed no signs of letting up. At dawn, troops of Somalia’s transitional government, backed up by Ethiopian troops, took over Jowhar, the last major town on the road to Mogadishu. It was the latest rout of the Islamists in fighting that began on Dec. 20 near Baidoa, the seat of the internationally recognized transitional government. Since then, the Islamists have lost just about every battle and have retreated toward their stronghold, Mogadishu.
Thousands of transitional government troops are now closing in on the seaside capital from two directions. The city is beginning to come unhinged. The ports and airports are closed, which has led to a shortage of just about everything, sending prices for food, medicine and fuel through the roof. A gallon of gas in Mogadishu now costs $8.
The young fighters of the Shebab, the backbone of the Islamists’ army, whose name comes from the Arabic word for youth, are deserting in droves.
“We can’t resist,” said Musa Abdullahi, 18, who quit his unit after half his comrades were cut down by Ethiopian helicopter gunships. “We thought this fighting would be like the others. It’s not.”
The Islamists came to power earlier this year as a grassroots movement that drove out Mogadishu’s warlords and restored a semblance of order to a city that was once one of the most violent on the planet.
But the goodwill they earned is being sapped away by their decision to attack the transitional government and declare a holy war against Christian-led Ethiopia. That provoked a crushing counterattack by the Ethiopians, who have the strongest military in East Africa and have sided with the transitional government because Ethiopia views the Islamists as a threat to its own security.
Residents in one of Mogadishu’s slums threw rocks at the Islamists’ pick-up trucks today.
Ahmed Nur Bilal, a retired Somali National Army general, said the war had been a horrible miscalculation. What made him especially mad, he said, was the Islamists’ reliance on adolescent boys to do most of the fighting. One of the first things the Islamists did after the fighting started was to close all schools in Mogadishu to send more young people to the front. Witnesses to some of the battles said the teenage troops were no match for the better-trained, better-equipped Ethiopian-backed forces who summarily mowed them down.
“They’ve misled our children to their deaths,” Mr. Bilal said.
But growing criticism of the Islamists does not necessarily translate into enthusiasm for the transitional government. Thousands of people in Mogadishu have begun to pack up and leave, saying they fear not only the possibility of heavy urban fighting but also a return to warlord rule, which kept Mogadishu in anarchy for years.
The transitional government has sent mixed signals about what it plans to do next. Until now, Mogadishu had been considered too dangerous as a headquarters for the transitional leaders, a mix of clan elders and former warlords. But with the once-mighty Islamist army fading by the day, some officials are now pushing to reclaim the capital.
Abdikarin Farah, the transitional government’s envoy to Ethiopia, said today that the government’s forces would not attack Mogadishu, a city of about two million, because of the risk of civilian casualties.
“Our troops will surround Mogadishu until they surrender,” Mr. Farah said at a news conference.
However, Mohammed Dheere, a warlord who returned as the leader of Jowhar today, told a crowd of people who gathered to welcome him back that, ”We will attack Mogadishu tomorrow from Balad and Afgoye,” referring to two towns on the capital’s outskirts.
Ethiopian officials have said that occupying Mogadishu is not part of their plan. But they have also said that rooting out Islamist extremists, who have turned Mogadishu in a base, is their priority.
Mohammed Ibrahim and Yuusuf Maxamuud contributed to this article from Mogadishu.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/27/world/africa/28somaliacnd.html?hp&ex=1167282000&en=2b4e9c2559462178&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
somalians previously thrashed the ethiopians, so they decided to use thier planes this time, along side the internationally backed corrupt somalian presidents forces. hmmm seems like they are the real cowards! and the mujahideen arnt retreating, the president told them to retreat! last time i checked the mujahid were taking mogadishu! Alhamdulilah... :)
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
Then the news is slow getting to your location.
Islamic forces abandon Somalia’s capital](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16376154/)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16376154/
By the way, using weaponry at your disposal doesn’t make you a coward, the world has advanced since the sword fighting days of Islamic armies. The real cowards are the ones using children to conduct their holy war.
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
Islamist retreat proving to be a major setback for Mogadishu’s residents; chaos, looting returning without Islamists around to keep order.
Ethiopia and the transitional government are taking Somalia backwards to the anarchy of the past.
What makes it all the more dissapointing is that the Mr. Bush’s administration has apparently given tacit backing to those who are bringing back the chaos, crime and anarchy. Evidently, having unleashed chaos, crime and anarchy upon Iraq isn’t enough to sate Mr. Bush’s appetite for inflicting misery upon others. Now he seems to desire inflicting it on Somalia too…
Armed clan militia appeared in the streets of the capital as soon as the news of the Islamists withdrawal emerged, looting the offices of the UIC administration. Eyewitnesses said at least three people were killed and five injured in two hours of shootouts by looters outside the UIC headquarters in north Mogadishu, where hundreds of armed clan militia gathered this morning.
The power vacuum has allowed opportunist clan militia to retake sections of the city they controlled before the UIC took control in June.
Gunmen loyal to former commander Mohamed Jama Furuh, whose militia used to control the seaport, have retaken it.
“The port is now in my hand, I want to provide its security and protect it from looting because, there is business property by Somalis, until we hand it over to any other administration”, Mr Furuh told the BBC.
In north Mogadishu, militia loyal to Abdu-Kadir Bebbe, one of the commanders of the US-backed defeated warlords, is now in control of a district, saying he will be there until the government arrives.
Witnesses and the local residents in north Mogadishu have also reported groups of bandits stealing cars and mobile phones.
**“The break out of insecurity has forced most of our traders to close their business centres and the luxury cars have disappeared from the streets,” said Adbikariim Fodare a businessman in the city’s main Bakara market.
Mogadishu, which has enjoyed a semblance of law and order for more than six months of Islamists rule, now seems to be descending back into anarchy. **
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
^ The call for a 'holy war' against Ethiopia was a bad move.
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
Has a holy war ever been a good idea?
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
No! Whats cowardly is killing innocent men woman and children, forcing civillians to take up arms (whom you then label as terrorists)…
Yes the days of sword fighting are over, prepare for something else Insha’ALLAH, Alhamdulilah mujahideen are getting more and more sophisticated weaponary.
Sweet dreams pumpkin… 
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
Worked against the red menace in the 80s. Only holy war could persuade enough people to keep fighting long enough against such immense firepower with such poor odds for so long as to win…
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
there was nothing wrong with calling for a holy war, it was just that they should have been more prepared...
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
It is the Islamists forcing children to take up arms to fight their battles. Who is klling innocent men and women?
[quote]
Yes the days of sword fighting are over, prepare for something else Insha'ALLAH, Alhamdulilah mujahideen are getting more and more sophisticated weaponary. Sweet dreams pumpkin... :)
[/quote]
You mean like purple fonts?
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
Since when are islamists forcing children to take up arms and fight? Your confused with other states in africa where western governments encouraged such acts and sold weaponary whilst stiring the different sides up, right now they are probably laughing away eating thier steaks in front of the tv! The amount of money they continue to make even when the conflict is more or less over...
Its very clear who is killing the men woman and dont forget the children. The somalian president a corrupt warlord backed by the united states and everyone else against somalia, has been known to do such things. And right now ethiopia is helping him out. This is an invasion of thier country, the somalians didnt ask for help, it was that warlord who did. Why was it that after the fighting when the troops arrived in the towns people didnt want to welcome them? The fighting was over, wernt they saved as that idiot claimed he was doing? They hate him and his supporters.
Yeah sure i like the purple font, i see you have a soft spot for the black font! :)
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
That was only AFTER it was clear that Ethopopia was in Somalia...but of course, these are Muslims so they *must *be the agressors, right?
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
You mean like purple fonts?
Are you kidding me? The militias that comprise the government forces never did that? Riiiiigghht.
That report was pure poitical CRAP.
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
Basically its a bunch of Africans killing each other
Its only about the millionth time this has happened....
Re: Somalia Islamists declare war on Ethiopia, but maintain peace with Somali Govt
Many Pakistanis are in Somalia joining Somali Islamists. Today Somali forces arrested Pakistanis . Kenya is sealing the border to prevent Somali, Arab and Pakistani Islamists from creating trouble in Kenya.