AP: Somali Troops Capture Islamic Stronghold

[TomClash]

Jan 1, 10:41 AM EST

Somali Troops Capture Islamic Stronghold

KISMAYO, Somalia (AP) -- Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks and fighter jets captured the last major stronghold of a militant Islamic movement Monday, while hundreds of Islamic fighters - many of them Arabs and South Asians - fled the town.

To cheering and waving crowds, well-armed troops drove into Kismayo after clearing roads laced with land mines that had been left by an estimated 3,000 hard-line Islamic fighters fleeing a 13-day military onslaught by government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks and MiG fighter jets.

"We have entered and captured the city," Maj. Gen. Ahmed Musa told The Associated Press while riding aboard a truck into Kismayo, where the Islamic fighters had vowed to make a last stand but melted away under artillery fire.

Hundreds of gunmen, who apparently deserted from the Islamic movement, began looting warehouses where the Council of Islamic Courts had stored supplies, including weapons and ammunition.

Gangs skirmished in the streets, and the southern coastal city was descending into chaos, said Sheik Musa Salad, a local businessman.

"Everything is out of control, everyone has a gun, and gangs are looting everything now that the Islamists have left," he said.




http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SOMALIA?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME

[Robbien]

1. The death and destruction has just begun

John Bolton could not leave well enough alone.

[citizen snips]

2. Somali troops capture Islamic stronghold

KISMAYO, Somalia - Somali government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks and fighter jets captured the last major stronghold of a militant Islamic movement Monday, while hundreds of Islamic fighters — many of them Arabs and South Asians — fled the town.

To cheering and waving crowds, well-armed troops drove into Kismayo after clearing roads laced with land mines that had been left by an estimated 3,000 hard-line Islamic fighters fleeing a 13-day military onslaught by government troops backed by Ethiopian tanks and MiG fighter jets.

"We have entered and captured the city," Maj. Gen. Ahmed Musa told The Associated Press while riding aboard a truck into Kismayo, where the Islamic fighters had vowed to make a last stand but melted away under artillery fire.

Hundreds of gunmen, who apparently deserted from the Islamic movement, began looting warehouses where the Council of Islamic Courts had stored supplies, including weapons and ammunition.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070101/ap_on_re_af/somalia

[4dsc]

3. Looks like they have them corners

in southern Somalia.. You can bet there are plenty of US forces in the area..

[Eugene]

4. Reuters: Eritrea blames Washington for Somalia war

Eritrea blames Washington for Somalia war

By Jack Kimball
Mon Jan 1, 10:43 AM ET

ASMARA (Reuters) - Eritrea accused the United States on Monday of being
behind the war in Somalia, but said Washington could never thwart the will
of the Somali people.

Diplomats across east Africa agree that Washington almost certainly gave
tacit approval for Ethiopia to provide the forces which allowed Somalia's
weak interim government to roll into the capital Mogadishu and send the
hardline Islamists packing.

Washington has accused Eritrea of providing arms and men to the Islamists.
The government in Asmara denies that.

-snip-

Eritrea's arch-foe Ethiopia says hundreds of Eritreans were killed on the
battlefield. Asmara accuses it of faking Eritrean identity cards in a
"futile ploy" to provide evidence.

But the rapid collapse of the Islamists has largely laid to rest fears
that fighting in Somalia could expand into a wider regional war between
Ethiopia and Eritrea.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070101/pl_nm/somalia_conflict_eritrea_dc

[Xithras]

5. Good. But will it last

My understanding is that the Somali people didn't really want the Islamists in power, but they were tired of the fighting between the warlords and chose a lesser evil. It's eerily like the situation in Afghanistan that lead to the rise of the Taliban (governmentally, the Taliban were a model for the Somali Islamists anyway).

The next few months should be interesting. In Afghanistan, the people generally supported our arrival because they disliked the Taliban. Once the nation began to slide back into warlord fueled anarchy, however, the Taliban came roaring back to life. If this transitional government isn't any more successful than previous governments at supressing the Somali warlords, we may similarly see support for the Islamists return.

Of course, that assumes that the Ethiopians leave. They've had a long running border dispute with the Somali's for decades, and since losing Eritria have been landlocked without any sort of port access. With Ethiopian troops now occupying all of the country, it would be incredibly easy for them to claim part...or even all...of Somalia as new Ethiopian territory.

It will be interesting to see where this goes.