War in Somalia

Victor

This has been overshadowed by other events, but the emergence of some sort of centralised control in Somalia is probably welcome, although not all of hte activities of the courts are welcome locally (e.g. shutting down bars and World Cup coverage).

I think the statement in bold (relating to possible weapons smuggling) is probably high on the award list for "Statements Least Likely to be True".

http://home.eircom.net/content/reuters/worldnews/8539344?view=Eircomnet

Mystery plane fuels Somalia war fears
From:Reuters
Wednesday, 26 July, 2006
By Mohamed Ali Bile and Guled Mohamed

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A mystery cargo plane landed in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on Wednesday and the interim government said it was carrying Eritrean weapon supplies for rival Islamists.

Residents reported seeing a medium-sized aircraft with no recognisable markings land at Mogadishu's old international airport and unload large boxes. It was only the second plane to land there since newly-powerful Islamists re-opened the airport days ago.

Onlookers and journalists were prevented from entering the area by hundreds of heavily-armed Islamist militiamen guarding the airport with dozens of battle-wagons.

"The plane was carrying anti-aircraft missiles and other weapons donated by Eritrea to the Islamists," deputy prime minister Ismail Mohamed Hurre told Reuters from Baidoa, provincial base of the fragile transitional government.

"We condemn this, it will add more problems to Somalia," he added, without citing evidence for the weapons claim.

Senior Islamists -- who took Mogadishu from U.S.-backed warlords in June and are in a standoff with the government that has raised fears of war -- declined comment.

But one Islamist official, who asked not to be named, said that instead of weapons, the plane had brought "small sewing machines, which were a gift from a friendly country."

While the government alleges Eritrea is arming the Islamists, they say Ethiopian troops have poured into Somalia to protect President Abdullahi Yusuf's government.

The United Nations has an arms embargo on Somalia. But it has been ignored for years, and the Horn of Africa nation of 10 million people is awash with light and heavy weaponry.

KHARTOUM TALKS

The plane controversy came as Islamist militia continued their expansion by taking over areas formerly controlled by defeated warlord Omar Finnish, residents said.

The Jilibmarka and Gandersi zones of southern Mogadishu included several natural ports and had been run by non-aligned, "freelance" militia since Finnish was ousted, they said.

"Islamic courts militia took over...arrested some freelance militia who were extorting money from residents...and handed over control to Madina Islamic Court," resident Mahad Maalim said.

The Islamists now control a large swathe of southern Somalia.

Islamist leaders met during Wednesday to decide whether to return to talks in Khartoum with the government, which has indicated it is willing to negotiate.

The Islamists' most powerful leader, hardline cleric Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, has ruled out any meeting unless Ethiopia stops its "invasion" of Somalia.

Another leader, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, who is considered a moderate, told a gathering of ex-military officers, some of whom fought Ethiopia in a 1977-78 conflict, to prepare for war.

"You will be joined by the Islamic Courts militia in defending the country and our religion against our enemies," he said to chants of "God is great!"

Anti-Islamist Ethiopia has repeatedly denied sending soldiers to defend the government, which is based in the small town of Baidoa because it is powerless to move to the capital.

However, U.N. envoy Francois Lonseny Fall told Reuters on Wednesday that Ethiopian troops were indeed stationed in Baidoa, and another southern town, Wajid. But he dismissed reports of up to 5,000 troops as exaggerated.

Diplomats fear that Ethiopia, and its old foe Eritrea, are using Somalia as a proxy battleground to antagonise each other.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Cawthorne in Nairobi)

lostexpectation

I read somewhere that new rift has oened up in the ground and is growing an unprecendented rate between eritrea and ethiopia, so maybe the earth will do the job for them.

DadaKopf

lostexpectation wrote:

I read somewhere that new rift has oened up in the ground and is growing an unprecendented rate between eritrea and ethiopia, so maybe the earth will do the job for them.

As far as I know, Ethiopia is scaling up its military presence just inside Somalia to, I think, protect a portion of Ethiopia that's ethnically Somali - or it's Ethiopia claming a part of Somalia as ethnically Ethiopian. It's a recent thing, and a shame, it'll undermine Somalia's efforts at state-building.

LostinBlanch

Well given the history between Eritrea and Ethiopia it looks likely that there is a chance of another war.

Throw in the disgraceful attitude of the major powers to the genocide at Darfur*, and it's no wonder that Ethiopia would take steps to protect itself. Another bad situation going to happen as all attention is on events in Lebanon and Israel.

* I know Darfur is in Sudan but I'm using it in the context of the ongoing conflict between Militant Islam and Nativist African countries i.e. nominally Christian but also practice their own tribal religion(s) as well.