Posted on 01/12/2007 3:03:40 PM PST by blam
Last Somali Islamist base 'falls'
Ethiopia was at the forefront of the drive against Islamists
Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers have captured the last stronghold of the Union of Islamic Courts, the defence minister says. Col Barre Aden Shire said the town of Ras Kamboni, in south-eastern Somalia, fell after several days of fighting.
Remnants of the militia are now reported to be hiding in dense forest along Somalia's border with Kenya.
Ethiopia has led a military campaign against the Islamists, who controlled much of Somalia for six months.
The US this week launched air strikes against Islamists, who they accuse of harbouring al-Qaeda members suspected of carrying out attacks against US embassies in East Africa.
US air strikes and patrols in Somalia The Islamists denied they were sheltering senior al-Qaeda operatives.
The US air strikes have been condemned by some regional powers, including Djibouti and Eritrea, and have been criticised by Oxfam for leading to apparently high numbers of civilian deaths.
New realities
"Government troops and Ethiopian forces have captured Ras Kamboni after heavy fighting," the defence minister told the Associated Press news agency.
As news emerged of the fall of Ras Kamboni, interim President Abdullahi Yusuf met warlords in Mogadishu in an effort to agree a pact.
Earlier, warlords who battled for control of Somalia for 16 years agreed to surrender their weapons after a clan gunfight left at least five people dead.
"The warlords and the government have agreed to collaborate for the restoration of peace in Somalia," said government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari following the talks in Somalia's presidential palace.
"The agreement means they have to disarm their militia and their men have to join the national army," he said.
He named the warlords who had agreed to disarm as:
* Mohamed Qanyare Afrah
* Musa Sudi Yalahwo
* Issa Batan Alin
* Abdi Hassan Awale Qeiybdid
* Omar Habeb
* Bashir Raghe Shirar.
They formed a US-backed alliance last year but were driven out of Mogadishu by the militants of the Union of Islamic Courts.
Aid workers report that more 1,000 people have been wounded since fighting erupted in December.
Great news.
Awwwww, breaks my heart.
Anyone see a huge flaw in this?
I think they still have corporal punishment, so no.
The RATs and the leftist media are on a suicide watch.
i feel a spring in my step today
"falls"
?? "BBC" "is" "a" "crap" "organization".
lol
This is excellent news. However, may I suggest that they continue their offensive until they completely clean out the "remnant" in the forrest.
forrest = forest
Just make sure there are no survivors.
Mark Tran and agencies
Friday January 12, 2007
The Somali president, Abdullahi Yusuf, and his prime minister, Mohamed Gedi (2nd from left), meet former warlords at the presidential palace in Mogadishu. Photograph: Mohamed Sheikh Nor/AP
Fears mounted today that the Somali capital was reverting to lawlessness after several people were killed in a clash outside the presidential palace in the capital, Mogadishu. Troops loyal to one clan leader fired a rocket-propelled grenade and exchanged gunfire with militiamen loyal to the president, Abdullahi Yusuf, who belongs to a rival clan.
The fighting, which one fighter said was sparked by a dispute over where to park an armoured car, left at least six people dead and 10 wounded.
The violence occurred as Mr Yusuf was holding peace talks with clan leaders inside the palace. A government official said the warlords had agreed to disarm and disband their militias and join a new national army. "The warlords and the government have agreed to collaborate for the restoration of peace in Somalia," said Abdirahman Dinari, a government spokesman.
Attacks against government troops and their Ethiopian backers have increased in frequency in recent days after the relative calm brought about six months ago when Islamist forces seized control of the capital.
Ethiopia sent troops into Somalia on December 24 in support of the weak transitional government, routing Islamist forces that had restored some semblance of stability across the country.
Most of the Islamist militiamen dispersed, but a few hardcore members fled south toward the Kenyan border and the Indian Ocean.
The British aid agency Oxfam today said US and Ethiopian air strikes against the fugitive Islamists in southern Somalia in recent days had mistakenly killed 70 nomadic herdsmen gathering round fires.
"Oxfam is receiving reports from its partner organisations in Somalia that nomadic herdsmen have been mistakenly targeted in recent bombing raids," the aid agency said in a statement.
US air strikes on Sunday against suspected al-Qaida terrorists in the south have attracted criticism from both the EU and the UN. But the US ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, today denied that the action had killed any civilians.
In an article in the Kenyan paper the Daily Nation, Mr Ranneberger writes: "Contrary to press reports, US actions have included only one strike against a group of al-Qaida in southern Somalia. No civilians were injured as a result of this action."
In the piece, Mr Ranneberger also calls for an African peacekeeping force to preserve stability. "Quick deployment of African stabilisation forces will enable the rapid withdrawal of Ethiopian forces without creating a security vacuum," Mr Ranneberger says.
The African Union (AU) and east African body the Intergovernmental Authority on Development have said they are willing, in principle, to send more than 8,000 troops into Somalia. Uganda has said it is ready to provide the first battalion, but Kampala is nervous of the risks as the country has been in chaos since the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled in 1991.
It is still unclear who would fund the mission, which nations would contribute and how quickly the force could be mustered. The inability of an AU force to protect civilians in Sudan's Darfur region does not bode well for any peacekeeping operation in Somalia.
The Washington Post reported that a small US military team entered southern Somalia after this week's air strike to try to find out who had been killed.
This would be the first known case of US ground forces returning to Somalia since the disastrous mission in 1994 that culminated in the shooting down of two Black Hawk helicopters and the killing of 18 US troops in Mogadishu. Hundreds of Somalis were killed in the battle.
Eritrea, which has accused the US of being behind the war in Somalia, today warned Washington that its involvement would "incur dangerous consequences".
bump
"Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers have captured the last stronghold of the Union of Islamic Courts, the defence minister says."
Wow. I wish we could do this.
" The British aid agency Oxfam today said US and Ethiopian air strikes against the fugitive Islamists in southern Somalia in recent days had mistakenly killed 70 nomadic herdsmen gathering round fires.
"Oxfam is receiving reports from its partner organisations in Somalia that nomadic herdsmen have been mistakenly targeted in recent bombing raids," the aid agency said in a statement."
Likely at a wedding.
Now there's something you dont see every day....
"The US air strikes have been condemned by some regional powers, including Djibouti and Eritrea, and have been criticised by Oxfam for leading to apparently high numbers of civilian deaths."
Djibuti? You mean the dog vomit pest hole we've been occupying for the past few years, that regional power? And Eritrea?!!!!! Boy, we'd better hunker down right now before they drop the big one on us!
Any possible way to do the same thing we did in Somalia in Iraq? Maybe that is the ticket to finish these Terrorists off and win in Iraq. Of course after Iraq, lets got to Iran and then Syria and be done with the middle east once and for all.
Next step, secure the area and teach politicians how to win a F$%Kin war! Kill the enemy, break his stuff, and deny him the capability to do it again!
Sorry to get emotional, I am an Airborne Ranger of Vietnam vintage. We did that, and the politicians lost the war.
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