Posted on 12/28/2006 6:28:18 AM PST by meg88
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Triumphant Somali government forces marched into Mogadishu on Thursday after Islamist rivals abandoned the war-scarred city they held for six months before an Ethiopian-backed advance.
The flight of the Islamists was a dramatic turn-around in the volatile Horn of Africa nation after they took Mogadishu in June and spread across the south imposing sharia rule.
Terrified of yet more violence in a city that has become a byword for chaos, some Mogadishu residents greeted the arriving government troops, while others hid. Photo
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"People are cheering as they wave flowers to the troops," said resident Abdikadar Abdulle, adding scores of government military vehicles had passed the Somalia National University west of the city center.
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, proving the decisive factor in saving the government and pushing back the Islamists.
Why was this thread removed from "Breaking News?"
Carolyn
Because, silly, it's actually breaking news. All that's allowed in the BN sidebar these days seems to be stale, 3-day (at least) old stuff.
Given all the old jokes, I'm almost afraid to ask what's on the menu...
"I'm going to an Ethiopian restaurant this weekend"
Done that before but never seem to get enough to eat there. ;)
Seems that "breaking news" these days is what the Mods read in yesterday's paper. I realize that a lot of stuff is posted on "breaking news" that is neither breaking nor news of any national or international significance, but this really is breaking news IMHO.
If a little bit of US support for Ethiopia can bring these results just imagine what the support we're giving Iraq's military will do for a potential war with Iran.
Islamists reminds me of the talk-tough kid on the school ground that once confronted runs like a girl.
Has the world ever seen more cowardly leadership than the Islamists? Ayatollah Khomeini fled to Paris, bin Laden and the Tali-ban leaders to caves in Pakistan, Saddam to his rat hole, and now these guys.
I wonder what the ROEs were.
let the suicide bombings begin.....
I think that meant Islamists, not Islamics.
Also, I thought that the leaders had scooted off, but not surrendered, per se. They told their thugs to "secure the stability" ...just because they decided not to fight it out in Mogodishu doesn't mean they're gone.
...then the Somali Study Group (SSG) can rubber stamp Al Jazeera news and the UNaccountable bureaucrats to close the method-of-operation loop.
this is somewhat embarrasing when Ethiopia kicks Islamic ass in 3 days and Bush can't do it in 3 years
maybe W can learn a lesson that kicking ass is the way to go
none of this Athens on the Tigris nonsense
I sure hope nobody took pictures of the flower-bearing citizens...because they will surely be killed when the Islamics return. Which they probably will.....
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