Somalia bracing for war

Many Somalis fear there will be war if the city falls. Hussein Farah Aideed, the interior minister for the transitional national government of Somalia, said: “If the Islamists attack the headquarters of the transitional federal institutions of Baidoa there will be a flame all over Somalia. “There will be flame in the capital Mogadishu, Kismayo, Baidoa, Johar, Beledweyne, all the south and central will be in flames.”

Mohamed Abdulkadir Ahmed, another Somali government spokesman, said on Sunday: “The door of talks was not shut by the government, which is a reconciliation government, but by the Islamic Courts.”

“Brink of War”

Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, said that tensions were running high with loud speakers at mosques calling on Somalis to sign up in preparation to fight against what the UIC calls “aggression” against their country by Ethiopia.

He said there are fears that with UIC fighters and Ethiopian and Somali government troops being in such close proximity, any type of small skirmish could lead to the beginning of a war

The Islamists took Mogadishu in June and spread across south Somalia, challenging the aspirations of the government of Abdullahi Yusuf, the Somali president, to restore central rule to the Horn of Africa nation for the first time since warlords removed a dictator in 1991.
Kalay Maistry, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, said that the closing-in of the UIC on Baidoa has not provoked a reaction from Ethiopa.

“They have adopted a wait and see approach. They [the Ethiopian government] have said that it is not a serious threat and so they are not going to give it credibility by acting upon it,” Maistry said.

“Invading soldiers”

The Somali government says thousands of foreign radicals have bolstered the Islamists’ ranks, while Washington last week accused the movement of being run by an al Qaeda cell.

The Islamists say the government, formed in Kenya in 2004, has no popular legitimacy and has allowed more than 30,000 “invading” Ethiopian soldiers into Somalia to prop them up in Baidoa.

Mohamud Muse Hirsi, the president of the semi-autonomous north Somali region of Puntland, visited Baidoa on Sunday apparently to express his support for Yusuf’s government.

Speaking to reporters after Yusuf met Hirsi, Abdirahman Said Mahamud, Puntland’s health minister, would not give details of the talks but implied the region would be loyal to Yusuf.

“Puntland is part of the administration under the interim federal government,” he said.

Puntland is Yusuf’s homeland and is also believed by experts to be hosting thousands of Ethiopian troops.

Islamists ready for talks with Ethiopia

ADEN, Yemen (AFP) – SOMALIA’S powerful Islamist movement appears to have opened the door to talks with neighbouring Ethiopia in an effort to avert war with the weak Ethiopian-backed Somali transitional Government.

A senior Islamist official, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, said on the weekend the movement was prepared for “dialogue” with Ethiopia, which has troops in Somalia protecting the Government.

At the same time, Sheik Ahmed and the Speaker of the Somali parliament announced a deal to bring the Islamists and the Government back to the negotiating table after peace talks collapsed last month.

However, the prospects were unclear as the Islamists have given Ethiopia until Tuesday to withdraw from the country or face major attacks, and the Somali Government says the window of opportunity for talks has closed.

Somali parliament Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden is on poor terms with the UN-recognised Government.

“It is our right to set a deadline because Somalia belongs to the Somalis, not the Ethiopians,” Sheik Ahmed said. “It is our right to set a deadline, but this does not mean we will attack them after this deadline expires.

“The Islamic Courts have invariably called for dialogue and for resolving problems by peaceful means. We continue to champion this principle, and we are prepared to negotiate and engage in a dialogue with the Ethiopians.”

The Islamists have declared holy war on the Ethiopian troops in Somalia, and claimed several small attacks against them. They upped the ante last week with their ultimatum, which was brushed off by Addis Ababa.

There was no immediate reaction to Sheik Ahmed’s comments from mainly Christian Ethiopia, which with the US accuses the Islamists of having links with al-Qa’ida and trying to foment unrest among its sizeable Muslim population.

Ethiopia has sent several hundred military trainers to help the Somali Government, but denies widespread reports it has deployed thousands of combat troops to Somalia.

Sheik Ahmed and Mr Aden have attended three days of urgent talks hosted by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

In a joint statement, the two pledged to work for a peaceful resolution to the crisis that threatens the country with more unrest.

They committed themselves to talks on a political settlement but did not set a date for the resumption of negotiations.

The pair affirmed agreements made at earlier talks and rejected interference in Somali internal affairs by any country in the region, calling for the borders of Somalia and all neighbouring states to be respected.

The pact appears to rule out a regional peacekeeping mission authorised by the UN Security Council, and its success is jeopardised by Mr Aden’s poor ties with the rest of Somalia’s “transitional federal institutions”.

The Speaker incurred the Government’s wrath last month with an unauthorised trip to Islamist-held Mogadishu and has not returned to the administration seat of Baidoa, about 250km away, despite calls to do so.

The Government repudiated an earlier deal Mr Aden reached with the Islamists, saying he represented only himself and a small number of politicians, not the entire legislature or the cabinet of President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.

The agreement was announced a day after the Islamists and Government officials traded barbs and moved closer to war following US and local accusations that the Islamist movement had been taken over by al-Qa’ida.