Somali Islamists and their Ethiopian-allied government rivals shelled each other for a third day on Thursday, a day after a European Union (EU) envoy said the two sides had agreed to new peace talks.
Deputy Defence Minister Salad Ali Jelle said the fighting erupted in the morning near Dinsoor, 100km south-west of the government’s surrounded stronghold, Baidoa.
”Heavy fighting has started and is going on in Dinsoor area,” Jelle told Reuters by telephone from Baidoa.
Dinsoor store owner Dayow Hassan said the battle appeared to be moving south, away from Baidoa.
”I’m hearing heavy artillery shelling, and it sounds like it’s coming closer and closer to us,” he said by telephone.
The Islamists could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Somali Islamic Courts Council (Sicc), which controls most of southern Somalia by dint of military might and a strict application of sharia law, and the Western-backed but fragile government have fought near Baidoa since late on Tuesday.
The latest clash follows a shuttle diplomacy mission by EU aid chief Louis Michel, who visited leaders of both sides in Baidoa and then Mogadishu on Wednesday and said both had agreed to stop fighting and attend re-started peace talks.
The latest fighting is the most sustained combat between the rivals for control of the anarchic Horn of Africa nation, despite several skirmishes along a tense front line snaking across Somalia.
Many fear it will devolve into all-out war and suck in regional rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea who are backing the government and Islamists respectively, along with at least eight other nations, a United Nations-commissioned report says.
Military experts say Ethiopia has sent 15 000 to 20 000 troops into Somalia, while Eritrea has sent about 2 000.
The Islamists have threatened holy war against Ethiopian troops — whom witnesses say have taken part in this week’s fighting. Addis Ababa says it has only sent a few hundred military trainers. – Reuters