Somalia’s opposition leaders predicted on Monday that a further surge in an Islamist-led insurgency in the capital, Mogadishu, could defeat Ethiopian troops supporting the government there within two months.
“The liberation forces are gaining strength day after day,” said Zakariya Mahamud Abdi, spokesperson of a congress in Eritrea’s capital, Asmara, which has gathered Islamist leaders, exiled lawmakers and diaspora representatives.
“There are streams of young men coming to Mogadishu to take part in the liberation [and] I assure you that very soon Somalis will liberate their country, maybe a matter of a month or two months,” he told reporters.
Ethiopian troops came to the rescue of Somalia’s embattled transitional government forces last year and ousted the Islamic Courts Union, which had briefly taken control of large parts of the country.
Since being defeated by Ethiopia’s vastly superior military machine, the insurgents have reverted to guerrilla tactics, launching daily hit-and-run attacks on government targets in Mogadishu.
Islamist and other opposition leaders boycotted a government-sponsored reconciliation meeting that wrapped up late last month and organised their own congress hosted by Ethiopia’s arch-foe, Eritrea.
The aim of the gathering is to create a unified opposition platform to end Ethiopian occupation of the Horn of Africa country.
“We will have a central command when we establish the organisation here,” Abdi said.
Since the ouster of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has had no central authority and defied several initiatives aimed at ending bloody tribal feuds and restoring stability. — AFP