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Somalia: “of the hundreds” of islamist militiamans killed, according to the government BAIDOA (Somalia) - the Somali government of transition affirmed that “hundreds” of islamist combatants were killed Wednesday in the combat which opposed the governmental forces, supported by Ethiopian troops, with islamist close to Baïdoa. According to an official statement of the ministry for the Information transmitted to AFP, “the federal government of transition confirms that the attack of the Islamic courts and their terrorist allies was pushed back”. “Of the shootings of mortars started to fall around Baïdoa right before the paddle (Wednesday) and continued (to be...

Fresh Ethiopian troops along with number armored vehicles have occupied Ballanballe in Galgaudu province, central Somalia. Witnesses said they saw 18 battlewagons and a large number of Ethiopian troops coming to Ballanballe to fortify Ethiopian troops that were already in the district. <A TARGET="_top" HREF="http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v8/34c0/3/0/%2a/l%3B63340103%3B0-0%3B0%3B15206356%3B991-180/160%3B19444478/19462372/1%3B%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttp://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/news/world.html"><IMG SRC="http://m1.2mdn.net/1351888/180x160-afric-anglais.gif" BORDER=0></A> The entry of Ethiopian troops in the country came a day after an Islamic Court dubbed Imamu Shafici was set up in Galgadud provincial district of Abudwaq. Abdirisak Mohammed Warsme Fiqi, the consultative leader of Imamu Shafici Islamic Court in Abudwaq, called on the people to be ready for a jihad war with...

Somalia, our next-door neighbour, is headed to war. This is no longer expression of fear or speculation. The drumbeats of war are on. Face-off may be Tuesday. The guns are being oiled. The consequences for the region, particularly Kenya — which is likely to host thousands of those who will flee the bloodbath — are grim. There is every indication that the war is set to begin any time. Somalia’s President Abdulahi Yusuf says the door to peace is closed. Talks with the country’s Islamic movement, he says, are no longer the option. He adds: "They are the ones who...

Washington -- The United States has no intention of sending military forces to Somalia to remove al-Qaida-backed militants from power, a senior U.S. diplomat told reporters December 14. Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, called on Somalia’s competing factions to open talks aimed at achieving a stable government. She also urged international follow-through on a December 6 U.N. Security Council resolution that authorizes an African peacekeeping force to protect Somalia's Transitional Federal Government. (See related article.) “That’s not a plan that we have on the table, for the U.S. government and our U.S. military to deploy to...

Al-Qa'eda in control of Mogadishu, says US By Mike Pflanz in Nairobi Last Updated: 1:41am GMT 16/12/2006 The Islamic Courts Union in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, is riddled with al-Qa'eda operatives who are positioning for full control of the regime, Washington's top Africa official said yesterday. "The Council of Islamic Courts is now controlled by al-Qa'eda cell individuals – East Africa al-Qa'eda cell individuals," said Jendayi Frazer, the US assistant secretary of state. Key figures running armed militias loyal to the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) include three al-Qa'eda operatives wanted over the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi...

Al-Qaïda took the control of the islamist courts in Somalia WASHINGTON - terrorist network Al-Qaïda took the control of the islamist courts opposed to the Somali government of transition supported by UNO, affirmed Thursday high a person in charge for the State Department. “The Council of the Islamic courts from now on is controlled by individuals belonging to Al-Qaïda cells”, declared with the press the Secretary of State associated with the African Businesses, Jendayi Fraser. “The highest persons in charge for the courts are extremists pure and hard, they are terrorists and it is them which create this logic...

Al Qaeda militants are operating with "great comfort" in Somalia, providing training and assistance to a radical military element loyal to the Islamic group that controls most of southern Somalia, a senior State Department official said Wednesday. Jendayi Frazer, who heads the department's Africa bureau, said a priority U.S. goal is the capture of three militants wanted for the bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and a hotel in Kenya in 2002. The three are from Sudan, Kenya and the Camoros Islands, located off Africa's east coast. "We're continuing to work with all sides in Somalia...

Ethnic and religious courts are gaining ground in the UK. Will this lead to different justice for different people? Aydarus Yusuf has lived in the UK for the past 15 years, but he feels more bound by the traditional law of his country of birth - Somalia - than he does by the law of England and Wales. "Us Somalis, wherever we are in the world, we have our own law. It's not Islamic, it's not religious - it's just a cultural thing." The 29-year-old youth worker wants to ensure that other members of his community remain subject to the...

MOGADISHU, Somalia: The Islamic militia that controls much of southern Somalia dispatched thousands of troops Sunday to within 15 kilometers (9 miles) of the border with Ethiopia amid increasing fears that tensions between the two sides could explode into violence. "All our troops in the region are now ready at the front lines to face their enemy," said Mohamed Mohamud Agaweine, the military commander for the Council of Islamic Courts in central Somalia. He said thousands of Islamic fighters were in the region around Abud-waq, but did not give an exact figure.

(SomaliNet) Powerful Islamic Courts Union has on thursday imposed a curfew on the Somalia capital Mogadishu following violent protests raged in the city today in which one person has been killed and others were wounded. The curfew was announced by Islamist's security chief for Banadir province Abdulahi Ali Nahar knowns as Abu-Uteiba who addressed in public square in the capital near where the Khat leafy was burnt today shortly after it was delivered at Mogadishu main airport. "The curfew is starting from tonight 8:00 to 5:00 local time and we are telling the people to stay at thier homes with...

The BBC has come under fire from the Conservative Party after broadcasting an interview with a spokesman for the Taliban. His face hidden by a veil, Dr Mahammed Anif told BBC2's Newsnight that the Taliban would throw foreign armies out of Afghanistan. He also dismissed British and American claims to be rebuilding the country as an "excuse" to invade. Other members of a Taliban group in Helmand province were also filmed, vowing to fight to the death against British troops who are seeking to bring security to the area. Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox denounced the interviews as "obscene" and...

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A fundamentalist Muslim who is listed by the U.S. State Department as a suspected al-Qaida collaborator was named Saturday as the new leader of an Islamic militia that has seized control of Somalia's capital. The militia, which changed its name Saturday from the Islamic Courts Union to the Conservative Council of Islamic Courts, said in a statement it had appointed Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys as its new leader. The Bush administration says Aweys was an associate of Osama bin Laden in the early 1990s. The Islamic militia seized control of the capital Mogadishu and much of southern...