Somalia braces for war as 200 troops defect

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.

Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Bilal, head of the Islamic court in the Al-Bayan region, said the troops switched sides there late Saturday. Mr Bilal said the former government soldiers “are ready to be incorporated into the Islamic courts forces”.

The court movement has promised to launch a holy war tomorrow unless troops from neighbouring Ethiopia, who are supporting the government, leave Somalia. Islamic fighters have surrounded the southern Sudanese town of Baidoa, the only town the government controls.