Islamic 'terrorists' spark Somalia war fears

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.

Ethiopian forces, meanwhile, have arrived to support the internationally recognised government in its face-off with the radicals. Witnesses saw about 300 Ethiopians in a convoy of 50 armoured trucks in Bardaale, 60 kilometres (40 miles) west of Baidoa, the only town held by the weak government. Islamic forces believe Ethiopian troops aim to cut off their route between Kismayo and Mogadishu.

“The incursion of Ethiopian troops into Somali territories is a declaration of war on Somalia,” Sheikh Yusuf Indahaadde, national security chairman for the Islamic group, told The Associated Press by telephone yesterday from Mogadishu.

“We call on the international community to urge Ethiopia to withdraw its troops from Somalia. If that doesn’t happen the consequences of insecurity created by Ethiopia will spread to neighbouring countries and to East Africa as a whole.”

As it has established authority in the capital and across much of the south starting in June, the Islamic group’s strict interpretation of Islam has sparked comparisons with Afghanistan’s Taliban. The US has accused the Islamic group of sheltering suspects in the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden has portrayed Somalia as a battleground in his war on the US

Several thousand demonstrators protested against the Islamic militia yesterday in Kismayo, 420 kilometres (260 miles) southwest of the capital, Mogadishu. The militia seized Kismayo, one of the last remaining ports outside their control and Somalia’s third largest town, a day earlier without a fight.

Islamic militiamen with white bands on their heads opened fire on the protesters. Kismayo resident Abdiqadir Filibin said he saw the 13-year-old killed. Two other children were injured, witnesses said on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. Sporadic gunfire could also be heard in other parts of the town.

“They are ... al-Qaida and we do not want them,” said Halimo Mohamed, one of the protesters in Kismayo. “Theirs is not a religion. They are terrorists.”

But some Somalis have welcomed the order the Islamic group has brought to a country where the transitional government has struggled to assert authority since if was formed in 2004 and where there has been no effective national government since 1991, when warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and then turned on one another, throwing the country into anarchy.

Hassan Turki, leader of the Islamic militia, told a demonstration in support of his group in Kismayo earlier yesterday that foreign fighters were helping his fighters.

Turki, who is rarely seen in public, is on the US and UN lists of suspected terrorists for having alleged ties to al-Qaida.

In an interview with the AP yesterday, Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said “terrorists” dominate the Islamic group.

Gedi, speaking in neighbouring Kenya, called on the UN to partially lift an arms embargo to allow for the deployment of African peacekeepers, a move the radicals oppose.

The African Union has endorsed a plan by eastern African states to deploy peacekeepers in Somalia to protect Gedi’s weak, internationally recognised government.

The UN Security Council was expected to meet in New York yesterday to discuss a partial lifting of the embargo.

The Islamic group and Gedi’s government have agreed to a cease-fire, but the Islamic fighters have continued to advance across the country. Gedi accused the Islamic group of violating the nonaggression agreement.

Gedi would not comment on reports of Ethiopian troops entering Somalia, but did say he expected neighbouring countries to protect his government.

Witnesses had reported several deployments of Ethiopian troops in support of the government in recent months, and UN officials have confirmed the presence of a small number of Ethiopian troops around the town of Baidoa, saying the force was intended to defend the government and Ethiopian interests in Somalia. But Ethiopian and Somali officials have repeatedly denied any Ethiopian troops have crossed the border into the country.

Ethiopia yesterday repeated earlier denials its troops were in Somalia.