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Islamist deadline looms large in Somalia

December 19 2006 at 01:30AM

By Hassan Yare

Baidoa - Somalia's government on Monday said it was lining up peacekeeping forces as the interim administration and Islamist rivals sought a diplomatic way to avert a war that many fear could engulf the region.

The Somali Islamic Courts Council (SICC), which took Mogadishu in June and controls most of the south, has threatened to fight Ethiopian troops protecting the government in Baidoa if they do not leave by Tuesday, raising war fears to a new high.

Both sides said over the weekend they were still open to dialogue but on the ground the military standoff remained tense as Islamist fighters continued to dig in at positions on three sides of Baidoa, witnesses said.




At some points, government and Islamist troops are just a few kilometres apart.

Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told parliament in Baidoa, the government's only outpost, that Nigeria's president had pledged troops for a United Nations-backed peacekeeping force to protect the administration.

"Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo promised me that they will send 1 800 peacekeepers to Somalia with their full supplies and will help us financially and politically," he said.

Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys told Reuters last week his fighters did not plan to attack President Abdullahi Yusuf's government but only its "invading" Ethiopian allies.

However Islamist spokesperson Abdirahim Ali Mudey played this down on Monday.

"What we meant was that now there are talks between us and the Ethiopians they should remove their troops so that the talks can go ahead smoothly," he said, referring to a recent meeting between Islamist and Ethiopian officials in Djibouti.

"If they don't remove the troops then definitely the talks will collapse. If that happens then we will decide on what action to take."

You know what, I think they wanna trick the amhaar, They will attack but not tomorrow, maybe the next 2-5 days or so. No army wants to reveal its intentions. And by saying we will attack the amhaar if they don't leave within 7 days doesnt indicate which they days they will attack them.

wallahi its not a smart move sxb

they should've attacked like 2days ago to confuse them

Somalia: Islamists retreat from plan to attack Ethiopians
Mon. December 18, 2006 02:00 pm.


Mohamed Abdi Farah

(SomaliNet) Somali’s powerful Islamic Courts Union said on Monday that it would not attack Ethiopia – the ICU seems to draw back its ultimatum given to Ethiopians to quit Somalia.

Speaking to Shabelle Radio in Mogadishu, Sheik Abdirihin Ali Mudey, the head of information and communication department of Islamic Courts, said that recent remarks by his Islamic movement over that it would attack Ethiopian troops if they do not withdraw from Somalia was mistranslated and misunderstood.

“We did not mean to attack Ethiopian forces if they do not withdraw from our country but we meant it as to set condition for starting talks with Ethiopian government so the statement of ICU was misinterpreted,” Sheik Ali Mudey said.

He said the Islamic Courts Union is still in its position to repel Ethiopian troops out of Somalia. “By the time Ethiopian forces are in our soil, the ICU with the help of its people is ready to fight against invaders,” he said.

His latest comments came as today is the last day of a week given to Ethiopian government to withdraw its troops from Somalia or would face the prospect of war but earlier Addis Ababa described the Islamist threat as laughable.

Meanwhile, Sheik Ali Mudey, spokesperson for Islamic Courts Union, said the resignation of the current transitional federal government in Biadoa city is the only solution for the Somalia crisis and could avoid civil war.