SOMALIA/ ETHIOPIA: Islamist forces leave Mogadishu as Ethiopian-backed government forces reach capital.

Triumphant Somali government forces and their Ethiopian allies marched into Mogadishu on Thursday (December 28) after Islamist rivals abandoned the war-scarred city they held for six months. The flight of the Islamists was a dramatic turn-around in the volatile Horn of Africa nation after they took Mogadishu in June and spread across the south imposing sharia rule. Terrified of yet more violence in a city that has become a byword for chaos, some Mogadishu residents greeted the arriving government troops, while others hid. Parts of Mogadishu shook with the sound of gunfire and there were outbreaks of looting after leaders of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) fled their base early on Thursday morning. Some fighters ditched their uniforms to avoid reprisals. Islamist defence lines were routed by a joint force of Ethiopian armour and government fighters. "The Islamic Courts Union will accept and let Somali people choose whatever administration they want and we are ready to give up power," said Sheikh Abdirahman Janaqow, vice chairman of the Islamic Courts Union. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi vowed to pursue the Islamist leaders. "We are discussing (with the Somali government) as to what we need to do to make sure that Mogadishu does not descend into chaos," Zenawi told journalists in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The Islamists militias had brought a semblance of stability to Mogadishu by imposing sharia, Islamic law during their six-month rule. But the Somali capital is now in the middle of a dangerous power vacuum, and may be sliding back to the rule of the gun. The fall of Mogadishu came about 10 days after the Islamists sought to march on the government base of Baidoa. That prompted Ethiopia to come openly into the war, proving the decisive factor in saving the government and pushing back the Islamists. "The people of Mogadishu are shocked by the arrival of Ethiopian troops. It will be terrible if they enter Mogadishu," said Haji Ali, a resident of Mogadishu. Earlier on Wednesday (December 27) Somalia's pro-government troops seized the key southern town of Jowhar. Crowds lined the dusty street to cheer the victors, backed by Ethiopian tanks, who pursued the retreating Islamists as sporadic gunfire echoed in the air. Hundreds of people were wounded in the fighting and admitted to local hospitals and clinics. Ethiopia says the Islamists are supported by Al Qaeda and its arch foe Eritrea. The Islamists have depicted the conflict with Christian-led Ethiopia, which has one of Africa's most effective armies, as a holy war against "crusaders", tapping into decades of rivalry between the two neighbours.

ITN Source | December 29, 2006

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