MOGADISHU, Dec 27: Ethiopian troops backing Somali government forces on Wednesday ousted Islamist fighters from a key southern town and moved closer to the capital, amid calls from African and Arab nations that they withdraw.
After the pro-government forces seized Jowhar, about 90 kilometres north of Mogadishu and rolled south with the Islamists retreating, the UN Security Council prepared to make a second bid to reach a consensus to obtain a truce and get peace talks on track.
A commander in the militia fighting for Somalia's internationally recognised but feeble transitional government, Hassan Abdulahi Jiis, confirmed the seizure of Jowhar, saying the Islamists were “losing control day by day.” ”They do not have the ability to resist, they are running and the local people are also welcoming our forces cordially,” Jiis added.
Regional pressure mounted for Ethiopian forces to pull out and the rivals to observe a truce because of fear the conflict could engulf the Horn of Africa, but witnesses reported fighting in Leggo township west of the capital.
“We are still making a military retreat and they are suffering more than we do,” Islamist commander Sheikh Yonis Haji Idris said.
In Kenya, whose government helped shape Somalia's interim regime in 2004, diplomats said the Islamists had agreed to attend talks in Nairobi on Thursday to discuss ways of preventing a conflagration.
But asked if Ethiopia and the Somali government would participate in the talks, a diplomat said: “We will deal with only those whom we can manage.” The African Union and Arab League urged Addis Ababa to withdraw without delay, while the UN Security Council decided to try once more to agree on a non-binding text drafted by Qatar, which met on Tuesday with opposition notably from the United States and Britain.
Washington says the Islamists have Al Qaeda links. The United States has urged its Ethiopian allies to show “maximum restraint” regarding civilians.
Heavy fighting erupted on Dec 20 after the Islamists made good on a vow to launch attacks if Ethiopian troops supporting the government failed to pull out within a week.
Clashes have forced the UN World Food Programme to suspend airlifts and pull out air-support staff who were assisting nearly half a million people afflicted by recent flooding, but the agency's spokesman Peter Smerdon said relief work on the ground will continue.
Witnesses said Islamist columns had pulled back to Mogadishu, where the ruling clerics vowed to dig in for a long war with Ethiopian troops, saying their fighters made a “tactical retreat” under air attacks. —AFP
