SOMALIA: Thousands of Somali's turn out in to cheer the return of government officials near Mogadishu as Islamists flee further south

Thousands of Somalis turned out to cheer as government officials held a huge rally in the former Islamist held town of Jowhar, north of the capital Mogadishu on Monday (January 1). Somalia's Islamists fled towards Kenya or melted into the southern hills on Monday after abandoning their last stronghold to advancing government forces backed by Ethiopian troops, tanks and planes. In just two weeks, Ethiopia's military muscle has enabled a feeble government to break out of its provincial enclave, drive the Somali Islamic Courts Council (SICC) from the capital and end six months of Islamist rule across much of the south. The government said that despite its military successes it recognised that a political settlement was still vital in order to head off the possibility of an Islamist insurgency. "Supporting those international criminal personalities and those who oppose our national interest is prohibited, support the nationalism, law and order, good governance, but never support those who are terrorists for international crimes," Jowhar provincial administrator Mohamed Omar Habeeb said during an address to thousands of people gathered at the Jowhar stadium. Several thousand Islamist fighters who retreated from Mogadishu on Thursday took a stand 300 km (186 miles) to the south near Kismayu port, but disappeared on Sunday night after trading artillery fire with Ethiopian and government troops. The government gave residents and militia three days from Tuesday to hand in their weapons or be disarmed by force. It renewed its appeal for African peacekeepers to come "as soon as possible" to help stabilise the Horn of Africa nation, which has been in chaos and without central rule since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. The government urged Kenya to close its border and arrest any Islamists who made it across. A Kenyan police chief said several suspected fighters from Somalia were arrested on the frontier on Sunday and were being questioned. He gave no more details. The border is hard to patrol, with ethnic Somalis populating the Kenyan side and nomads crossing easily. Diplomats said Ethiopia has almost certainly received tacit U.S. support for its intervention. Their forces have provided an unbeatable combination of air power, artillery and tank support which has quickly routed the Islamists. Born out of sharia courts operating in Mogadishu, the Islamists chased U.S.-backed warlords from the capital in June. The SICC brought a semblance of order for the first time in nearly 16 years, but some of their hardline moves -- like shutting cinemas and holding public executions -- angered Somalis, traditionally moderate Muslims. Both Addis Ababa and Washington say the SICC is a dangerous Taliban-like movement linked to al Qaeda, an accusation the movement says was trumped up to justify foreign intervention.

ITN Source | January 2, 2007

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