SOMALIA: Cheering crowds welcome Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf during tour of Afgoye region on the suburbs of Mogadishu

Ethiopian tanks rumbled south from Mogadishu to attack Somali Islamists on Saturday (December 30) after the religious movement's leaders seemed to be preparing to make a final stand in the port city of Kismayu. Islamist troops abandoned the coastal capital they had ruled by sharia law for six months on Thursday (December 30) in the face of a 10-day Ethiopian offensive of land and air attacks. Crowning the dramatic reversal, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi swept into Mogadishu on Friday (December 29) saying the fight for political survival had been won. "When the Islamic courts militia attacked the government in Baidoa, we decided to bring in our government troops and troops from our friendly country Ethiopia, who are supporting them but people misinterpreted and said they will settle in the country with us but they will go back to their country once their job is done," Gedi told the cheering crowd. On Saturday (December 30), President Abdullahi Yusuf landed in an Ethiopian military helicopter about 20 km (12 miles) outside the city and held talks with faction leaders and elders. "We know the Islamic courts are not in Mogadishu, but we know they are in the country still, we know where they are, they are in Lower Jubba region. I think if they want to leave the country they can leave, but we also know they took their arms, they took their solders, we also know they are with foreigners, we know they are with wanted international terrorists," Somalia President Abdullahi Yusuf said. Sitting on a plastic chair under a large thorn tree, Yusuf said he would not enter the capital this time and would return to the government's base in the provincial town of Baidoa. The SICC leaders have promised resistance -- despite their hasty retreat -- and as the government tightened its grip on the capital, government troops and Ethiopian forces pursued them. Gedi's government depends almost entirely on Addis Ababa for its military muscle, analysts say, and it was far from clear how it would maintain security if or when Ethiopian troops leave. But the government's move near Mogadishu on Saturday was seen as a symbolic step that drove up confidence in the local market. The United States has accused the Islamic movement of harbouring al Qaeda operatives and has warned that Ethiopia as well as Kenya could be targets of extremist elements from Somalia. The Islamists claim broad popular support and say their main aim is to restore order to Somalia after years of warlord rule and anarchy.

ITN Source | December 31, 2006

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