Wararka ugu dambeeyey Beled Hawo
Posted: Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:51 am
Mogadishu, Monday
In a surprise move from Dolo District at the border between Somalia and Ethiopia, forces loyal to the Transitional Federal Government captured the strategic town of Bulo Hawa, 520 kilometres southwest of Mogadishu.
Technical vehicles (battle wagons mounted with machine guns) and hundreds of militias stormed the town earlier this morning.
For many years
The pro-government forces are composed of soldiers that accompany Honourable Barre Aden Shire alias Barre Hirale, a legislator who for many years ruled the port town of Kismayu, 500 km south of Mogadishu and loyalists of Ahlu Sunna wal-Jamea, a moderate Islamist grouping allied with the TFG.
The MP and his militia lost Kismayu to Islamists opposing the TFG in August 2008.
The Islamist forces of Al-Shabaab and Hizbu Islam that have been ruling Bulo Hawa, a town next to Kenya’s Mandera district, have left the area on Sunday afternoon.
So far, there is no announcement as to where the Islamists have gone and what they are up to.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Hassan Yakoub Ali, the Information Official of the Islamist coalition in Kismayu said yesterday that his authority was aware of military manouevres by Barre Hirale and his associates along the border with Ethiopia.
He reiterated that his fighters were ready to repel any challenge from the pro-government forces in Gedo and Juba regions in Southern Somalia.
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/-/1 ... 37lq76z/-/
In a surprise move from Dolo District at the border between Somalia and Ethiopia, forces loyal to the Transitional Federal Government captured the strategic town of Bulo Hawa, 520 kilometres southwest of Mogadishu.
Technical vehicles (battle wagons mounted with machine guns) and hundreds of militias stormed the town earlier this morning.
For many years
The pro-government forces are composed of soldiers that accompany Honourable Barre Aden Shire alias Barre Hirale, a legislator who for many years ruled the port town of Kismayu, 500 km south of Mogadishu and loyalists of Ahlu Sunna wal-Jamea, a moderate Islamist grouping allied with the TFG.
The MP and his militia lost Kismayu to Islamists opposing the TFG in August 2008.
The Islamist forces of Al-Shabaab and Hizbu Islam that have been ruling Bulo Hawa, a town next to Kenya’s Mandera district, have left the area on Sunday afternoon.
So far, there is no announcement as to where the Islamists have gone and what they are up to.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Hassan Yakoub Ali, the Information Official of the Islamist coalition in Kismayu said yesterday that his authority was aware of military manouevres by Barre Hirale and his associates along the border with Ethiopia.
He reiterated that his fighters were ready to repel any challenge from the pro-government forces in Gedo and Juba regions in Southern Somalia.
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/-/1 ... 37lq76z/-/