Thousands of angry Muslims marched through southern Somalia on Friday protesting alleged Ethiopian and United States aggression as fears rose of all-out war between powerful Islamists and the weak government.
Amid soaring tensions following the collapse of peace talks this week in Sudan, at least 3 000 demonstrators rallied for holy war in the town of Jilib, spurred on by vitrolic rhetoric from hardline clerics, witnesses said.
”We saw peace talks in Khartoum derailed by Ethiopia and its puppets,” said Sheikh Mohamed Omar Mursal, the leader of the Islamic court movement in Somalia’s Lower Juba region.
”Our people are ready to protect their religion from the enemies of Allah,” he told the cheering crowd, two days after negotiations failed, with Islamists demanding the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops allegedly in Somalia.
”We are ready to fight you, Ethiopia,” Mursal vowed, repeating claims that about 12 000 Ethiopian soldiers have been sent to protect the government.
Ethiopia denies it has thousands of soldiers in Somalia but acknowledges sending military advisers to help the enfeebled administration deal with the ”jihadists”, whose rise some liken to that of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
On Thursday, Addis Ababa said the Islamists were ”making conflict inevitable” with their demands and the UN envoy for Somalia warned of looming war that could engulf the Horn of Africa.
In Jilib, about 340km south of Mogadishu, witnesses said the crowd responded enthusiastically to Mursal’s remarks, chanting ”Allahu Akbar,” in response to his calls for jihad.
”We cannot endure Ethiopia colonising our country and fighting will continue until the Islamic courts and the true religion of Allah prevail,” he said, before setting his sites on the United States.
”America supports Christians and Jews,” Mursal said. ”We are not waiting for America to endorse our jihad, what we tell America is that we will fight against any invasion.” – Sapa-AFP