One of Somalia’s two prime ministers resigned today bringing the feuding, divided government one step closer to reunion.

Somalia’s government is holding up vital aid to tens of thousands of people as car bombs and street fighting brought the death toll to nearly 1,500 in less than a month, sending the country lurching towards catastrophe, it was warned.

Somalia’s president came under mortar attack in his palace in Mogadishu today, hours after arriving for a rare visit to the violent capital, eyewitnesses said.

The advance team of African peacekeeping force to Somalia arrived unannounced in the country today, said a senior police officer.

Somalia’s interim government began imposing martial law in areas under its control, the prime minister said, as rising violence threatens its tenuous grip on power.

Somalia’s transitional government lifted a broadcast ban today, said the government spokesman, a day after it had ordered three Somali radio stations and an international television channel to stop operations.

The first African peacekeepers to help the government assert its authority in Somalia are expected by the end of January, the prime minister said today.

Gunmen attacked Ethiopian troops supporting the Somali government, sparking a fight in the second straight day of violence in a city struggling to emerge from more than a decade of chaos.

Somali government troops backed by Ethiopians today prepared to launch a major assault on the last stronghold of Islamic movement militiamen.

KENYAN soldiers and helicopters beefed up defences at the Somali border yesterday after Ethiopian warplanes and ground forces attacked fleeing Islamists on the other side of the frontier.

Somalia’s prime minister today said he does not expect any more major fighting against rival Islamic fighters and his Ethiopian military backer described the operation as within weeks of being completed.

A militant Islamist movement fled from rapidly advancing government forces into a rugged, forested corner of Somalia, as the prime minister offered an amnesty if they surrendered.

Fighting erupted today on the outskirts of Somalia's militant Islamic movement's last remaining stronghold as thousands fled advancing Ethiopian troops supported by tanks and MiG fighter jets.

The prime minister promised thousands of cheering Somalis peace and stability after he drove through battle-scarred Mogadishu in an armed convoy, a day after an Islamic movement’s fighters abandoned the capital ahead of his Ethiopian-backed troops.

ETHIOPIAN Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said more than 1,000 people have been killed in fighting between his troops, backing Somali government forces, and Somalia’s Islamist movement.

Ethiopian jets dominated Somalia’s skies today and bombed the country’s two main airports while ground troops captured a strategic village.

Ethiopian fighter jets bombed Mogadishu International Airport in the middle of Somalia’s capital today.

Ethiopian fighter jets bombarded the Somali town of Belet Weyne today in a sharp escalation in violence that is threatening to engulf the volatile Horn of Africa.

Hundreds have been killed in clashes between Somalia's Islamic militia and the country's secular government while the United Nations issued a call for peace during a lull in fighting.

Somalia's Ethiopian-backed government and its rivals in an Islamic movement fought to a bloody standstill today, and geared up for a major push as fearful villagers fled.

Thousands of Somalis fled their homes today as government and Ethiopians troops used artillery to defend against Islamic fighters attempting to advance on the UN-backed regime’s only stronghold.

Bodies lay in the streets and fighters pounded each other with heavy artillery and mortars for a third day today as Somalia’s Islamic leader announced the country was now at war, leaving a day-old peace initiative in tatters.

Fighting broke out today between Somalia’s government troops and rival Islamic militia near where an EU envoy was meeting with senior leaders to press for peace talks.

NEARLY 200 troops serving Somalia’s weak Western-backed government defected to the Islamic courts movement, an Islamic official said yesterday, as both sides braced for impending war.

The top UN official for Somalia today called on the world to do everything possible to prevent war in Somalia and help 1.8 million people there in dire need of help.

Thousands of Islamic militants today surrounded the only town Somalia’s government controls, the prime minister said.

Islamic leaders today ordered Somalis to hand in their weapons, but did not say how they would enforce the directive in a heavily armed country some fear is about to go to war with its neighbour.

Hundreds of Ethiopian troops reinforced Somalia’s transitional government today, hours after Ethiopia’s prime minister said his country was ready for war with an Islamic movement that has become the most powerful force in Somalia.

Hundreds of Ethiopian troops were patrolling the road that leads to Somalia’s government headquarters after a brief but intense battle in the area this week, witnesses said today.

Somalia’s most powerful politician today offered the country’s Islamic movement a role in government, but said it must pull back its militia to avert a looming war.

Heavy fighting erupted in northern Somalia today as Islamic forces clashed with militia backed by Ethiopian troops, an Islamic official said.

The leader of Somalia’s Islamic radicals today urged Ethiopians to revolt against their government, which he described as an oppressive regime led by an unpopular minority ethnic group.

Ethiopian troops arrived in a strategic town in Somalia alongside government fighters today, residents and Islamic militia said.

Fears of regional conflict has soared with the loss of a strategic port to Somalia’s radical Islamic militia, which faced angry demonstrations that erupted into deadly violence, and for the first time acknowledged getting help from foreign Muslims.

Hundreds of Islamic militiamen in heavily armed trucks took over the southern town of Kismayo, one of the last seaports that had been outside their control in Somalia, witnesses said.

Somalia’s president narrowly escaped an assassination attempt today when a car bomb exploded outside the parliament building in the city of Baidoa, but the blast and a subsequent gunbattle left 11 people dead, officials said.

Two explosions rocked the seat of Somalia’s virtually powerless government today, killing the president’s brother and three others, officials said.

Two explosions rocked Baidoa, the seat of the Somalia’s virtually powerless government, today witnesses said.

Somalia’s virtually powerless government and an Islamic militia that has seized control of much of southern Somalia have signed an agreement to eventually form a unified national army.

Somalia’s prime minister survived a no-confidence vote in parliament today, just days after a group of lawmakers resigned claiming his weak administration had failed to bring peace to the chaotic nation.

A MEMBER of Somalia’s virtually powerless government was assassinated as he walked out of a mosque yesterday, enraging hundreds of locals who rioted in the streets screaming: “We want a government that can restore law and order!”

A member of Somalia’s virtually powerless government was assassinated today as he walked out of a mosque, enraging hundreds of Somalis who rioted in the streets screaming, “We want a government that can restore law and order!”

WHILE the focus of the international community continues to be riveted on events in the Lebanon, another invasion recently occurred — this time on the African continent — with little public awareness.

SOMALIA’S powerful Islamists yesterday said they would not attend peace talks with the interim government until Ethiopian troops left their soil.