Militia loyal to Islamic Courts still threaten Somali capital, says Minister

SOMALIA’S interior minister said yesterday that thousands of fighters loyal to the deposed Islamic Courts régime still pose a threat in the capital, while a Somali government spokesman said government troops — backed by Ethiopian soldiers — are fighting about 600 Islamic militiamen in the south of the country.

Government forces have surrounded the fighters “from every direction” in the southwestern district of Badade, near the Kenyan border, Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told The Associated Press.

“The fighting is going on,” Dinari said. “We hope they will either surrender or be killed by our troops.”

In the past 10 days, Ethiopian-backed government forces have driven out the Islamic movement that has controlled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for more than six months.

The movement has vowed to keep fighting, raising the spectre of further fighting.

Kenya, meanwhile, has officially closed its border with its neighbour, fearing an exodus of militants and refugees.

Meanwhile, a top US diplomat in Ethiopia said that she hopes African peacekeepers will be in Somalia by the end of the month.

Militia loyal to the deposed Islamic Courts movement — once bankrolled the city’s business elite to restore order in Mogadishu — are now based outside the Somali capital.

“There are 3,500 Islamists hiding in Mogadishu and the surrounding areas and they are likely to destabilise the security of the city,” Interior Minister Hussein Aideed said at a news conference.

Aideed did not explain the source of his information or what prompted his comments. Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi later Thursday tried to play down the threat and disputed Aideed’s figures.