Somalia at war against Ethiopia

[Janbaz]

BAIDOA, Somalia: Somalia’s Islamists are at war against Ethiopia not the government, a hardline Islamist leader said on Thursday, as fighting raged for a third day between his forces and pro-government troops.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who was speaking to Reuters by telephone, also accused Ethiopia of attacking the Islamists in southern Somalia. Three days of fighting with rockets, artillery and machineguns have increased fears of a devastating Horn of Africa war that could suck in rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea, who diplomats say are conducting a proxy war there.

The most sustained combat so far for control of a nation in anarchy since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, follows two months of increasingly violent skirmishes along a frontline snaking across Somalia. Aweys’s declaration came hours after he called the fighting around the government’s encircled stronghold, Baidoa, “a small incident” and a top European Union envoy said the two sides had agreed to stop fighting and resume peace talks.

Thursday’s shelling seemed to scuttle the shuttle diplomacy mission by EU aid chief Louis Michel, who flew into Baidoa and later to Mogadishu to try to push the two sides back to the bargaining table.

“The Somali government and the Islamists do not have heavy artillery pieces-that shows Ethiopia is at war with us,” said Aweys, whom Washington says has links to al Qaeda.

The News Pakistan.

 

[Janbaz]

Ethiopian jets bomb Somalia areas
BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) -- Ethiopian forces, committed to defending an interim Somali government holed up in the town of Baidoa, launched airstrikes on Sunday against Islamist fighters across the country, witnesses said.

Ethiopian Information Minister Berhan Hailu said the operation targeted several fronts including Dinsoor, Bandiradley and Baladwayne and the town of Buur Hakaba -- close to the administration's encircled south-central base Baidoa.

It was the first use of airstrikes and the first public admission by Ethiopia of its involvement in Somalia, whose interim government is surrounded by heavily armed fighters of the powerful Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC).

"After too much patience, the Ethiopian government has taken self-defensive measures and started counter-attacking the aggressive extremist forces of the Islamic Courts and foreign terrorist groups," Berhan told Reuters.

Diplomats fear Addis Ababa's announcement of its involvement in Somalia has flagged off a war ensnaring Horn of Africa rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea, and possibly attracting foreign jihadists and triggering suicide bombings in east Africa.

Berhan gave no details, but Somali witnesses reported Ethiopian planes dropping bombs and firing missiles on two areas as fighting between the Islamists and pro-government forces raged for a sixth day.

Resident Abdirashid Hassan said he saw planes drop bombs on the outskirts of Baladwayne, 190 miles (300 km) north of the capital Mogadishu.

Another witness, businessman Farah Osman, said two Ethiopian planes fired missiles further north, near Bandiradley.

A senior Islamist, Sheikh Mahmud Ibrahim Suley, accused the Ethiopians of using MiG warplanes and helicopters.

"Today the war is being fought by land and air," he told reporters in Mogadishu, adding that Islamists had destroyed five Ethiopian tanks. He did not comment on casualties.

Both sides say they have killed hundreds since the fighting began on Tuesday, although aid agencies report dozens of dead.

For months, witnesses have reported seeing thousands of Ethiopian troops deployed in Somalia to protect the government against the newly-powerful Islamists.

The SICC captured the capital Mogadishu and a swathe of southern Somalia in June, challenging the Western-backed government's aim to restore central rule for the first time since the 1991 ouster of a dictator.

CNN.

 

[Thunder]

So can anybody tell me who the good guy is, and why exectly they are fighting for??

 

[Janbaz]

Somaili's were fighting amongst themselves, one party being hardliners and the others can be called moderate's. Ethopia is suppporting the moderates while Eritria supports the hardliners. I like the hardliners only because the others are supported by Ethopia! Fighting for the control of Somalia and the surrounding territories near Ethopia.

 

[Janbaz]

Security Council calls emergency session on Somalia fighting

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting later Tuesday on the spreading fighting in Somalia where more than 1,000 people have died in an Ethiopian-backed government offensive against powerful Islamists, a UN spokesman said.

The council was to convene at 3:00 pm (2000 GMT) to hear a briefing from the UN special envoy for Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall of Guinea, said Farhan Haq, a UN spokesman.

The meeting of the 15-member body came as Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced Tuesday that more than 1,000 people had died in the fighting since his troops backing Somalia's government forces took the offensive against powerful Islamists.

"We got reports of more than 3,000 wounded in a Mogadishu hospital. Those who died are well over 1,000," Meles told a news conference in Addis Ababa, two days after Ethiopia acknowledged military intervention in the neighbouring and lawless Horn of Africa nation.

The Islamists said they had been forced to withdraw from many front-line positions in seven days of heavy fighting, but vowed to dig in for a long war with Ethiopia, which denies planning to take Somalia's capital Mogadishu or other Islamist stronghold towns.

The News Pakistan.

 

[TomCat111]

Folks ever thought of another possibility? What do you think American special forces/operators had been doing in Ethiopia and Djibouti for last several years?

It’s an American operation through proxies in an attempt to deny al-Qaeda a safe heaven.

 

[Neo]

This is really insane, whats wrong with these people? Both Ethiopia and Somalia belong to the poorest countries relying heavily on international aid and donations.

How will they pay for this war? Why isn't there a UN intervention there yet??

 

[TomCat111]

How will they pay for this war?

Uncle Sam will take care of Ethiopia’s bill, and nobody cares about Somalia.

Why isn't there a UN intervention there yet??

UN will intervene as soon as Uncle Sam tells it to do so.

 

[Janbaz]

UN is just a **** American puppet that cannot do anything without American intervention! It is solely to protect American interests and of course Israel.

 

[TomCat111]

US defends Ethiopian attacks in Somalia, urges 'maximum' restraint

WASHINGTON: The United States Tuesday defended Ethiopia's assault on Islamists in Somalia, which has reportedly killed more than 1,000 people, but said "maximum restraint" was needed to spare civilians.

Washington gave its first official reaction to the operation, which Ethiopia said inflicted a massive blow on the Islamists, as the United Nations Security Council met to consider whether to call for an end to the fighting.

Mainly Christian Ethiopia has justified the intervention on the grounds that the Islamist movement threatens its security, but fighting has sparked fears that a wider conflict could engulf the Horn of Africa region.

Gonzo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, said Ethiopia's offensive was intended to halt "aggressions" by the Council of Islamic Courts (CIC) movement, which the United States this month said had been taken over by Al-Qaeda.

 

[PakSniper]

Yes., US claims alot of things., and when the time for proof comes (iraq) it has nothing to show but written words. It's sad the other Islamic countries leaders aren't doing anything., I mean how hard can it be to bomb the hell out of Ethopia? Really a sad state for the muslim ummah., theirs a hadiths saying::

It is said that in the 'Age of Fitan', our beloved Prophet (sw) commented that if the Kuffar would go down a lizards hole, 'My Ummah will follow them in that lizards hole'!

And sadly that is whats happen'in

 

[Janbaz]

Return of warlords as Somali capital is captured


· Islamists retreat in face of Ethiopian tanks
· Looting begins as control of city is reclaimed

Xan Rice, East Africa correspondent
Friday December 29, 2006
The Guardian


Ethiopian tanks rolled into the outskirts of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, yesterday after Somalia's Islamist movement abandoned its bases in the city.
Somali government forces and their Ethiopian allies were wresting back control over Mogadishu as Islamist fighters, surrounded and outgunned, fled in convoy early in the morning towards the southern port city of Kismayo, the only town now controlled by the Somali Council of Islamic Courts. Other militiamen discarded their uniforms and joined clan-based militias in the capital. A number of Islamist leaders left the country.

Gunfire echoed around the capital as news of the withdrawal spread. SCIC bases were looted and several people were killed in a return to the anarchy that plagued the city before the courts came to power six months ago. Within hours, warlords who had been driven out by the Islamists were reclaiming their turf, including the presidential palace and the city's main port.
Somali prime minister Ali Mohamad Gedi said parliament would impose three months of martial law to prevent a return to anarchy. "In order to restore security we need a strong hand, especially with freelance militias," he told reporters.

The Islamists' dramatic retreat took many by surprise. Nine days ago they had surrounded the government base of Baidoa and controlled most of south-central Somalia. Despite their retreat after aerial assaults from Ethiopia, which is supporting Somalia's weak transitional government, the Islamists had been expected to defend the capital fiercely.

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, head of the SCIC's executive committee, told Al-Jazeera television the decision to leave Mogadishu was made to prevent civilian bloodshed. "We have withdrawn all the leaders and members who worked in the capital. Mogadishu is now in chaos."

Mr Ahmed, who was believed to have arrived in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, later in the day, said the Islamists were still united and would eventually repel the Ethiopian forces. But with the pro-government alliance entering parts of Mogadishu in the early evening, it appeared the courts had been dealt a severe, perhaps fatal, blow.

The Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, indicated that the military offensive, which has already claimed hundreds of lives, was not over. "The [SCIC] leaders, Eritreans and international jihadists are fleeing ... but we'll continue to pursue them - that's our agenda."

Ethiopia has been wary of the Islamists since they come to power in June, defeating a coalition of warlords. The SCIC immediately established law and order in the capital and their leaders said they wanted to make the country an Islamic state. But one European diplomat said yesterday: "The extreme elements have not disappeared into thin air. They may still try to turn the country into another Afghanistan." The government's alliances with warlords that were ousted by the Islamists also left analysts uneasy. "If this just means that the warlords are on their way back, then it's all pretty depressing," said another western diplomat.

The UN said last night it was readying a resumption of its aid operation in Somalia, where more than half a million people have been receiving emergency supplies. But many have chosen to flee. Yesterday, there were fears for 160 refugees after the UN agency said at least 17 people died and 140 were missing after two boats packed with Somalis sank off the coast of Yemen.

Yemeni security forces had opened fire on smugglers ferrying more than 500 people. Many of the survivors said they had been fleeing the conflict, and the UN fears the upsurge in fighting could create a new wave of refugees.

What might happen next?

1. The Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which is weak and largely unpopular, comes to a power-sharing agreement with the powerful Hawiye clan in Mogadishu and installs a functioning administration in the capital. Ethiopian forces withdraw. By negotiating with clans in Somalia's other important cities, the TFG begins to exert some form of central authority, putting the country on the path to normality.

2. Ethiopia withdraws its troops and the TFG is unable to exert any real authority beyond its base of Baidoa. In the vacuum created by the Islamists' departure, power reverts to clan-based warlords who have held sway in Somalia for the past 16 years. The anarchic situation that existed before the Somali Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) rose to power in Mogadishu returns.

3. The remnants of the SCIC, in particular the militant Shabaab wing, regroup to wage guerrilla war against the government - and the Ethiopians, if they stay. Eritrea and other Arab states continue to sponsor the Islamists. Somalia becomes a magnet for foreign militants keen to help local fighters establish an Islamic state.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1979791,00.html#article_continue

 

[Cheetah786]

So can anybody tell me who the good guy is, and why exectly they are fighting for??

In Somalia, a reckless U.S. proxy war

Salim Lone Tribune Media Services
Published: December 26, 2006


NAIROBI: Undeterred by the horrors and setbacks in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, the Bush administration has opened another battlefront in the Muslim world. With full U.S. backing and military training, at least 15,000 Ethiopian troops have entered Somalia in an illegal war of aggression against the Union of Islamic Courts, which controls almost the entire south of the country.

As with Iraq in 2003, the United States has cast this as a war to curtail terrorism, but its real goal is to obtain a direct foothold in a highly strategic region by establishing a client regime there. The Horn of Africa is newly oil-rich, and lies just miles from Saudi Arabia, overlooking the daily passage of large numbers of oil tankers and warships through the Red Sea. General John Abizaid, the current U.S. military chief of the Iraq war, was in Ethiopia this month, and President Hu Jintao of China visited Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia earlier this year to pursue oil and trade agreements.

The U.S. instigation of war between Ethiopia and Somalia, two of world's poorest countries already struggling with massive humanitarian disasters, is reckless in the extreme. Unlike in the run-up to Iraq, independent experts, including from the European Union, were united in warning that this war could destabilize the whole region even if America succeeds in its goal of toppling the Islamic Courts.

An insurgency by Somalis, millions of whom live in Kenya and Ethiopia, will surely ensue, and attract thousands of new anti-U.S. militants and terrorists.

With so much of the world convulsed by crisis, little attention has been paid to this unfolding disaster in the Horn. The UN Security Council, however, did take up the issue, and in another craven act which will further cement its reputation as an anti-Muslim body, bowed to American and British pressure to authorize a regional peacekeeping force to enter Somalia to protect the transitional government, which is fighting the Islamic Courts.

The new UN resolution states that the world body acted to "restore peace and stability." But as all major international news organizations have reported, this year Somalia finally experienced its first respite from 16 years of utter lawlessness and terror at the hands of the marauding warlords who drove out UN peacekeepers in 1993, when 18 American soldiers were killed.

Since 1993, there had been no Security Council interest in sending peacekeepers to Somalia, but as peace and order took hold, a multilateral force was suddenly deemed necessary — because it was the Islamic Courts Union that had brought about this stability. Astonishingly, the Islamists had succeeded in defeating the warlords primarily through rallying people to their side by creating law and order through the application of Shariah law, which Somalis universally practice.

The transitional government, on the other hand, is dominated by the warlords and terrorists who drove out American forces in 1993. Organized in Kenya by U.S. regional allies, it is so completely devoid of internal support that it has turned to Somalia's arch- enemy, Ethiopia, for assistance.

If this war continues, it will affect the whole region, do serious harm to U.S. interests and threaten Kenya, the only island of stability in this corner of Africa.

Ethiopia is at even greater risk, as a dictatorship with little popular support and beset also by two large internal revolts, by the Ogadenis and Oromos. It is also mired in a conflict with Eritrea, which has denied it secure access to seaports.

The best antidote to terrorism in Somalia is stability, which the Islamic Courts have provided. The Islamists have strong public support, which has grown in the face of U.S. and Ethiopian interventions. As in other Muslim-Western conflicts, the world needs to engage with the Islamists to secure peace.

Salim Lone, who was the spokesman for the UN mission in Iraq in 2003, is a columnist for The Daily Nation in Kenya. This Global Viewpoint article was distributed by Tribune Media Services.

 

[sigatoka]

This war is going to bankrupt Ethiopia while the Somali islamist fighters will disperse and conduct hit and run tactics that have been so successful in Afghanistan as employed by the Taliban. Unlike the Western forces in Afghanistan the airsupport that Ethiopian forces can call upon will soon dry up since its extremely expensive. It was a good strategic move by the Somali's resistance to abandon the capital since in the face of air assualt, artillery and tanks of the Ethiopians they would have faced too heavy losses.

The mistake of the Ethiopians is the same of the U.S. in Afghanistan, an initial sweeping away of the Taliban was assumed to be their end, even their the U.S. had support of the local warloads (north alliance) just like the Ethiopians have in the warlords in Somalia.

 

[blain2]

Another case of ill-conceived prodding of a bankrupt country (Ethiopia) to take on its neighbor by the US....reminds me of Iran-Iraq war all over...Ethipians are going to be sorry for a long time as this will not only increase instability on their borders (they already have IS issues with Ogaden region etc.) pretty soon you may start seeing folks from Somalia going into Ethiopia to conduct operations...this stupid war will also backfire on the US...already the most influential body in Africa (AU) has rejected the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia and this has surprised many (including the Transitional Somali govt and the US side) as per a NPR report yesterday.


Somalia: AU Wants Foreign Forces Out
December 27, 2006 19 09 GMT

The African Union (AU) on Dec. 27 urged all international troops and foreign elements to leave Somalia. The AU asked for the support of the Somalian transitional government in carrying this out. An AU force has yet to arrive in Somalia to help maintain the peace between Ethiopian/interim government forces and fighters loyal to the Supreme Islamic Courts Council.