Northern Somali authorities loyal to the interim government on Tuesday hunted down clerics trying to spread the grip of Mogadishu-based Islamists, and peace talks scheduled for Sudan were put on hold. The Islamists asked for a two-week delay in Arab League-brokered talks, now past a Monday deadline, to form a Cabinet after its dissolution for non-performance last week.
Ethiopian troops were moving closer to the Somali capital Mogadishu on Friday amid fears of all-out war in the volatile Horn of Africa nation where Islamists have risen to power. Ethiopian soldiers were moving beyond the provincial seat of the interim Somali government in Baidoa to the towns of Buur Hakaba and Baledogle.
Islamists who control Mogadishu and a large swathe of southern Somalia have opened a sharia court to serve two government-controlled regions, officials said on Monday. The Islamic movement has set up nine new courts in areas it has seized, but it is the first time the Islamists have established a court in an area they do not yet control.