Somalia’s pro-government troops seized a key southern town from their Islamist rivals on Wednesday in the closest battle yet to the religious movement’s Mogadishu stronghold, witnesses said.
”The government has taken over Jowhar. I can see government troops on top of armoured vehicles chasing Islamists troops … heading towards Mogadishu,” resident Mahamud Ismail said from the town 90km north of the Islamist-held capital.
Residents left their houses to cheer pro-government troops, backed by Ethiopian tanks, which pursued the Islamists as sporadic gunfire echoed in the air, witnesses said.
Government spokesperson Abdirahman Dinari said his forces were advancing on Balad, a town between Jowhar and the capital.
”We will not go into Mogadishu today [Wednesday],” he said.
The capture of Jowhar came hours after Ethiopia, defending the Somali interim government, said it was halfway to crushing the Islamists, heightening fears its next step would be to use air strikes and ground troops to seize the capital.
The retreating Islamists appeared to be heeding a call by their senior leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed for forces to gather in Mogadishu to prepare for a long war against old foe Ethiopia.
”Most of our troops should converge in and around our bases in Mogadishu and should prepare for a very long war against our enemies,” he told reporters late on Tuesday.
A week of mortar duels between Islamists and the Ethiopian-backed secular government has spiralled into open war that threatens to engulf the Horn of Africa, possibly attracting foreign jihadists and triggering suicide bombings.
Diplomatic push
Analysts fear a tactical retreat by the Islamists could draw Ethiopian soldiers further into Somalia and kick off a lengthy guerrilla campaign on the Islamists’ home turf.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says his forces have killed up to 1 000 Islamist fighters and wounded 3 000 more, although there was no independent verification of that.
The Islamist say they have killed hundreds.
More than 800 people had been wounded and thousands were fleeing the combat zone, according to the Red Cross.
The United Nations has warned the displacement could trigger an aid crisis in a region already struggling with the aftermath of severe flooding and limited resources.
The international community has been scrambling to deal with the war.
Foreign powers appeared split though, with the African Union and Washington backing what they view as Ethiopia’s right to intervene to protect its sovereignty.
The United Nations Security Council failed late on Tuesday to agree on a statement calling for an immediate halt to the fighting and were due to hold further consultations on Wednesday.
There was deadlock after Qatar, the Council’s sole Arab member, insisted the appeal also demand the immediate withdrawal of Ethiopian and all other forces from Somalia.
The AU, Arab League and East Africa’s regional body, Igad, were due to hold talks in Addis Ababa later on Wednesday.
Kenyan diplomats said leaders of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council had been invited there for talks but gave no details.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said instability had forced it to temporarily suspend food drops and relocate 25 aid workers, staff and security officers from the southern port city of Kismayu to Nairobi.
”WFP hopes to resume its air drops, helicopter operations, humanitarian passages and cargo services in Somalia as soon as possible,” said spokesperson Peter Smerdon.
”This is a real blow to our operations to help casualties from war, floods and the worst drought in 10 years,” he said. — Reuters