Biddho.com Eritrea - Rising To The Challenges! - Islamist insurgency grows in Somalia

Home

News

Islamist insurgency grows in Somalia

Written by Administrator

Monday, 19 November 2007

The Islamist-led resistance in Somalia is growing in scale and aggression, with insurgents openly taking on Ethiopian troops and African Union peacekeepers in the capital Mogadishu, in fighting that has killed dozens, possibly hundreds, in the past three weeks.

· Ugandan peacekeepers attacked and base entered · UN says 170,000 have fled as civilian areas shelled.

Early on Saturday two groups of rebels fired grenades at Ugandan peacekeepers and briefly entered their post before being repelled. The attack, which coincided with an internet call by a Somali Islamist extremist, Adan Hashi Ayro, for peacekeepers to be targeted, came after two weeks of fighting and reprisals between insurgents and the allied Ethiopian and government troops that caused a massive exodus from Mogadishu.

The UN estimates that 173,000 people have fled the city since October 27, adding to the 330,000 already displaced from the capital this year. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of civilians were killed, as both sides fired shells indiscriminately into residential neighbourhoods.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdullah, the UN secretary general's special representative for Somalia, said last week that the huge displacement, coupled with high child malnutrition rates and extreme difficulty in delivering aid, had made this Africa's worst humanitarian crisis.

Few people believe that the situation is about to get better. Several experts interviewed by the Guardian say that the insurgents are becoming more powerful. A military analyst and a western diplomat to Somalia, neither of whom wished to be named, warned that the angry mood and conditions that allowed an Islamist movement to defeat a gang of warlords and take power in Mogadishu last year were returning. "We are on a merry-go-round and it's back to 2006," said the analyst. "The insurgents are gaining not only in physical strength, but in moral strength too."

The situation reflects a chronic miscalculation by the Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, who sent his troops into Somalia late last year, and by the US, which backed that decision

African Union commanders told diplomats last week that the insurgents were actively fighting in 70% of Mogadishu's neighbourhoods. There are also signs that the resistance has spread beyond the capital. Islamic courts are reported to have taken control of two towns in the far south, while Hassan Al-Turki, a radical Islamist on the US terror list, is understood to be expanding his influence up the coast from his base near the Kenyan border.

Analysts say that the situation reflects a chronic miscalculation by the Ethiopian prime minister, Meles Zenawi, who sent his troops into Somalia late last year, and by the US, which backed that decision. The goal was to rout the Somali Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC), which had brought a measure of calm to Mogadishu for the first time in more than a decade, but which was accused by Washington and Addis Ababa of close links to al-Qaida.

Ethiopian troops easily swept through the Islamist fighters and installed the weak and unpopular Somali government in Mogadishu. The calm did not last long. Remnants of the SCIC's military wing, the Shabaab, launched a low-scale insurgency, using hit-and-run tactics and remote-controlled bombs to target Ethiopian and government troops. Many ordinary Somalis also resented the presence of tens of thousands of troops from Ethiopia. Soon warlords, clan leaders and businessmen were aiding the resistance with money, arms and their own militias.

Comments

Add New

RSS

Only registered users can write comments!

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 20 November 2007 )

< Prev		Next >

[ Back ]

>> Download MP3 Song - "Egermenalo" by Wedi Tikabo

Victory To The People of Somalia!

RTL - „Steffi Graf - Legende, Mutter, Helferin. Die Reportage zum RTL-Spendenmarathon“

President Isaias Afwerki's Letter to the UN Secretary General

Meeting the Challenge - Biddho Tours through Europe

Freedom!

EXPIRED - WOYANE and UNMEE!!

The Algiers Agreement is explicit that the parties are bound to honor the Commission�s decisions

Letter dated Nov. 30'07 from the Legal Adviser to the President of Eritrea to the president of the UNSC

Ethiopia rejects "virtual" border with Eritrea

Ethiopia - Meles Zenawi calls final and binding demarcation decision `legal fiction�!

From `legal nonsense� to `legal fiction�.

Who is the Blackmailer?

Ban-Ki Moon: Messenger versus the Message

ERITREA - ETHIOPIA: Security Council�s Moment of Truth

Seven Years After Algiers

DEMARCATION IS COMPLETE - TSZ EXPIRES

With effect from midnight tonight (30.11.2007), the demarcation of Ethio-Eritrean boundary will be as complete as any demarcated interstate boundary would be, if not better defined.

STATEMENT ON UNMEE�S �RELOCATION� FROM ERITREA

Permanent Mission of Eritrea to the United Nations

Eritrea - Statement on UNMEE's "Relocation"

Eritrea - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

UNMEE - United Nations Misson for the Exploitation of Eritrea

Ambassador John Bolton Blows UNMEE’s Transparent Cover

UNMEE-Another Failed UN Peacekeeping Mission

In Defence of Eritrea

>> Visit Alenalki Special Coverage "Hzbawi Mekete"

EEBC Files

EEBC Documents

>> EEBC Press Release OF 30 NOVEMBER 2007
>> EEBC STATEMENT OF 27 NOVEMBER 2006
>> LIST OF BOUNDARY POINTS AND COORDINATES

Overview Map (PDF / Graphik)

>> International Boundary between the State of Eritrea
and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Victory! Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea won the men's world half marathon championship for the third time

EEBC ruling of 2002 indisputable!!

Algiers Agreement of Eritrea and Ethiopia is implemented!! EEBC ruling of 2002 indisputable!! All the chapters in the process have now reached a legal conclusion! President Isaias Afwerki. VIVA ERITREA!