SOMALIA: Somalia's Islamic Courts Union militia moves into defensive positions in Bur Hakaba as peace talks in Khartoum hit a snag

Shuffling along dirty streets and undisturbed by the possibilities of war breaking out, hundreds of Somali's reported to be enrolled for holy war that has been called for by Islamic court officials to fight Ethiopia. The Islamist gunmen in Buur Hakaba are the rear guard of a series of defensive lines arrayed against an opposing force from Somalia's interim government and allies from the far more formidable Ethiopian military. The Ethiopian presence, there to protect the government of President Abdullahi Yusuf, prompted the militarily powerful Islamists to declare Jihad against Ethiopia this month. "The Baidoa residence have a big problem, and they don't want Ethiopian troops in their region, therefore it is the responsibility of Islamic courts to make them feel safe like everyone else in Somalia. Baidoa is the hub of the devils that we have been trying to get rid of and we will," said a militia and official royal to Islamic courts Moallim Hashi. Buur Hakaba, a south-central Somali town of maize fields on the road from Islamist-controlled Mogadishu, is their closest base to the only town the fractious government controls, Baidoa. In the past month, government and allied Ethiopian soldiers have taken it over twice, and twice the Islamists have returned. Islamists challenging the authority of Somalia's interim government said they would not proceed with a third round of peace talks on Tuesday (October 31) unless Ethiopian troops were withdrawn from the chaotic country. They also objected to neighbouring Kenya co-chairing the talks with the Arab League -- talks that have so far produced only a promise to recognise each other and make no military moves -- saying it backed sending foreign troops to Somalia. Diplomats on Tuesday (October 31) put pressure on Somali government and Islamist delegations to come together for peace talks in Sudan, saying they were trying to get the powerful religious movement to back down on one of its conditions for negotiations to go ahead. Ethiopia says it has only sent several hundred armed military trainers to Somalia, but has threatened to crush any attack by Islamists it says are led by terrorists. In Buur Hakaba, where the ordinarily sere and dusty plains have turned muddy and green with grass from recent rains, Islamist troops are everywhere. The Islamists have emerged as the most powerful military force in Somalia since seizing Mogadishu in June and advancing across much the country's south, imposing strict sharia law and exploiting traditional Somalia enmity against rival Ethiopia.

ITN Source | October 31, 2006

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