Jowhar

Torrential rains continued to pound southern Somalia on Wednesday, exacerbating devastating floods as the death toll soared to 73 with reports of 21 more drowning deaths, officials said. Local officials in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle, Middle Juba and Lower Juba regions said the 21 people had died when rivers burst their banks.

Somalia’s dominant Islamist militia on Monday imposed Sharia law in the former warlord stronghold of Jowhar, making good on their vows to bring Islamic theocracy to the shattered Horn of Africa nation. The Joint Islamic Courts militia named three hard-line preachers to chair the Jowhar administration.

Islamic militia captured the Somali town of Jowhar on Wednesday as fighters from a United States-backed alliance of warlords fled one of their last strongholds in the war-ravaged country. Heavily armed gunmen loyal to the Islamic courts were seen patrolling the town, about 90km north of the capital Mogadishu, which they captured earlier this month.

Fighters loyal to a United States-backed warlord alliance reinforced their last remaining stronghold on Friday as Islamist militia in control of the capital gathered for a feared attack, witnesses said. Heavily armed gunmen backed by machine-gun mounted pick-ups set up barricades and took up positions around the town of Jowhar.

Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi on Monday rejected a new action plan by the United Nations aimed at reconciling rival factions in the Horn of Africa nation’s transitional government. Gedi said the proposal is an imposed solution to a problem that can be dealt with by the government of a ”sovereign country” without outside help.