12-13-2006, 08:00 AM
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#8 (permalink)
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Rail Baron
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suprise suprise. who didn't see this coming?
http://www.localnewsleader.com/brock...lnews&id=34184
Quote:
Islamic militants surround Somalia town
Staff and agencies
12 December, 2006
By ANTHONY MITCHELL, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago
BAIDOA, Somalia - Thousands of Islamic militants have surrounded the only town Somalia‘s internationally recognized government controls, the prime minister said Tuesday as a top Islamic official promised to attack within a week unless Ethiopian troops leave.
"I believe that war is inevitable because elements within the so-called Islamic Courts are against peace and stability in the country," Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told The Associated Press in his office in Baidoa.
Ethiopia acknowledges sending military advisers to help Gedi‘s internationally recognized government but denies sending a fighting force. A confidential U.N. report obtained by the AP in October said up to 8,000 Ethiopian troops were in Somalia or along the border backing the government.
Tensions have been mounting in recent days between the increasingly powerful militia under the umbrella of a group known as the Council of Islamic Courts and Somalia‘s government, which has struggled to assert control.
Attempts to reach Islamic officials for comment were not immediately successful.
Since June, the Council of Islamic Courts has seized Mogadishu and taken control of much of southern Somalia. The group‘s strict interpretation of Islam has drawn comparisons to the Taliban, although many Somalis credit the council with bringing a semblance of order to a country that has seen little more than anarchy for more than a decade.
Somali Information Minister Ali Ahmed Jama Jengali said Tuesday the government had established defense lines and was prepared for an attack on Baidoa.
The rains were supposed to end by November, but are expected to continue through January in a region where drought left the soil so dry it was unable to absorb the deluge.
Associated Press Writer Mohamed Olad Hassan contributed to this report from Mogadishu.
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__________________
"If I am such a genius why am I drunk, lost in the desert, with a bullet in my ass?" -Otto Mannkusser
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