Somali gov't to declare martial law, capital seized

[General Duke]

Somali gov't to declare martial law, capital seized

 

Updated Thu. Dec. 28 2006 4:27 PM ET

 

CTV.ca News Staff

 

Somalia's government plans to declare martial law for three months, after Ethiopian-backed troops took over the capital Mogadishu from their Islamist rivals.

 

 

"This country has experienced anarchy and in order to restore security we need a strong hand, especially with freelance militias," Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamad Gedi told reporters Thursday.

 

 

He added that martial law could begin as early as Saturday.

 

 

Militiamen for the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) had controlled Mogadishu since June, attempting to establish a government based on a strict interpretation of Islam that echoed the Taliban.

 

 

Before Somali troops entered the capital, hundreds of militiamen who had backed the Islamist faction showed they had switched allegiance by taking off their uniforms.

 

 

"We have been defeated. I have removed my uniform. Most of my comrades have also changed into civilian clothes," one former SICC fighter told Reuters. "Most of our leaders have fled.

 

 

Meanwhile, at least 17 refugees fleeing the conflict zone drowned when their boat capsized in the Gulf of Aden, the United Nations refugee agency said Thursday.

 

 

The confrontation occurred Wednesday when Yemeni authorities discovered four boats, carrying about 515 people, and opened fire. The agency said 140 people were still missing.

 

 

Earlier, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said officials had been discussing how to keep Mogadishu from descending into chaos.

 

 

"We will not let Mogadishu burn," Meles told reporters in Addis Ababa.

 

 

Ethiopian and Somali government troops advanced on the capital from the north and the west, capturing the country's most important airfield and driving Islamic fighters out of Jowhar, the last major town on the road leading to Mogadishu.

 

 

Somali officer Col. Ahmed Omar said that Ethiopian troops would stop advancing on Mogadishu but that government forces would approach the capital.

 

 

Islamists said they had left Mogadishu but vowed they would not give up without a fight.

 

 

Residents south of the city told The Associated Press that Islamist forces were headed south toward the port city of Kismayo, their last remaining stronghold.

 

 

One former Islamic fighter who quit Thursday, Yusuf Ibrahim, said about 3,000 fighters had left for Kismayo, some 500 kilometres to the south.

 

 

Abdirahman Janaqow, a senior leader, told AP he ordered his forces out of the capital to avoid bloodshed.

 

 

"We decided to leave Mogadishu because of the safety of the civilians," Janaqow said. "We want to face our enemy and their stooges in a separate area, away from civilians."

 

 

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf is expected to offer the clans a truce later Thursday.

 

 

Some analysts fear that the SICC could focus on guerrilla fighting, especially if Ethiopia fails to help Somali maintain long-term security.

[General Duke]

Somalia to declare martial law

 

The Islamic Courts' chairman said that his side's hasty withdrawal was a tactical move

 

Ali Mohamad Gedi, the Somali prime minister, has said that parliament will declare a period of martial law to maintain control of the country after Ethiopian and government troops wrested the capital from rival Islamists.

 

Gedi told reporters on Thursday that the martial law would be declared on Saturday for a period of three months.

 

"This country has experienced anarchy and in order to restore security we need a strong hand, especially with freelance militias," he said.

 

The fall of Mogadishu came after a 10-day offensive by government and allied forces to reclaim much of the territory seized by the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) since June.

 

While Gedi on Thursday celebrated a triumphant return to his home village outside Mogadishu for the first time since 2002, he acknowledged that the chaotic country was far from stable.

 

The flight of the Islamists was a dramatic turn-around in the Horn of Africa nation, which has not had an effective government since the 1991 ouster of a dictator, after they had spread across the south imposing sharia rule and confined the interim government to its base in Baidoa until less than two weeks ago.

 

Terrified of yet more violence in a city that has become a byword for chaos, some Mogadishu residents took to the streets to cheer government troops, while others hid. Some SICC fighters ditched their uniforms to avoid reprisals.

 

Abdirahman Dinari, the government spokesman, said the Islamists had fled to the southern port city of Kismayu and that the administration now controlled 95 per cent of Somalia.

 

But analysts said a government victory was in no way certain and that the conflict could be about to take another turn.

 

The prime minister says troops have entered Mogadishu after the Council of Islamic Courts abandoned the city.

 

Gedi, who met with clan leaders to discuss the handover of the city, said, "we are co-ordinating our forces to take control of Mogadishu".

Gunfire could be heard and looting has been reported in the power vacuum that has followed the departure of the Islamic courts fighters on Thursday.

 

 

Mohammed Adow, Al Jazeera's Somalia correspondent, said the Islamic courts' decision to pull out was unexpected.

He said: "They had promised the Somali people to defend Mogadishu to the last man, but this hasn't happened.

 

"They had promised the Somali people to defend Mogadishu to the last man, but this hasn't happened"

 

Mohammed Adow, Al Jazeera's Somalia correspondent

 

"As they head for the south, the chances look very remote for the Islamic courts to assemble their fighters again in order to be able to wage any war against the Ethiopian and Somali government fighters."

[raadamiir]

Oh yes, the sun is shining in Somalia once again!!!