VARIOUS: Mogadishu falls to Somali government troops backed by Ethiopia

Triumphant Somali government forces marched into Mogadishu on Thursday (December 28) after Islamist rivals abandoned the war-scarred city they held for six months before an Ethiopian-backed advance. The flight of the Islamists was a dramatic turn-around in the volatile Horn of Africa nation after they took Mogadishu in June 2006 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. Earlier on Wednesday (December 27) Somalia's pro-government troops seized the key southern town of Jowhar. Hundreds of residents left their houses 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. 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 (December 28) morning. Some fighters ditched their uniforms to avoid reprisals. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi confirmed the advance to the outskirts of the capital and vowed to pursue the Islamist leaders. He said retreating Islamist militias had handed over their weapons to residents of Mogadishu. "They distributed all the guns that they had in their control to young people and young unemployed people unemployed, to wreak havoc in the wake of their withdrawal," Zenawi told journalists in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. "We are discussing (with the Somali government) as to what we need to do to make sure that Mogadishu does not descend into chaos," he added. The Islamists militias had brought a semblance of stability to Mogadishu by imposing sharia, Islamic law during their six-month rule. But he Somali capital is now in the middle of a dangerous power vacuum, and may be sliding back to the rule of the gun. Young men ran in the streets on Thursday morning carrying looted goods -- including hospital intravenous drip stands, pieces of furniture and mattresses. "Security was tight before, but fighting broke out again today and I don't know where the Islamic courts militia and officials have gone," said Mohamed Ahmed, a resident of Mogadishu. Ethiopia began a large-scale offensive at the weekend to back Somalia's interim government and drive away Islamist militias. "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. Ethiopia says the Islamists are supported by Al Qaeda and its arch foe Eritrea, and says it has taken foreign prisoners. 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 28, 2006

Tags:. .fighters. .dramatic. .broke. .tanks. .tapping