Battle for Somalia nears Kenya border - residents (Reuters)

[Eugene]

Battle for Somalia nears Kenya border - residents
03 Jan 2007 08:54:53 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Guled Mohamed

MOGADISHU, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Gunfire rattled near Somalia's border with Kenya
early on Wednesday as Ethiopian warplanes backing the Somali government streaked
overhead in pursuit of its fleeing Islamist rivals.

The Islamists, who withdrew from their last stronghold on Monday after two weeks
of war, rejected a government amnesty offer after disappearing into hills between
the port of Kismayu and the long frontier with Kenya.

Residents of Liboi, a Kenyan border post, said they saw Ethiopian fighter jets and
helicopter gunships flying over the Somali town of Doble, 25 km (15 miles) away,
late on Tuesday. Then they heard shooting which tailed off after midnight.

-snip-

Nairobi sealed the border after the Somali government urged it to stop the leaders
of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council (SICC) or foreign jihadist supporters escaping.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L0383709.htm

From BBC News...

Last Updated: Wednesday, 3 January 2007, 08:42 GMT

Kenya forces Somali refugees home

Kenyan authorities have deported more than 300 refugees who fled fighting across the
border in Somalia.

The refugees fled Islamist militias driven from southern Somalia towards Kenya by
Ethiopian and Somali soldiers.

International law was broken when 340, mostly women and children, were driven in trucks
from a Kenyan border transit camp, the UN refugee agency said.

Kenyan soldiers have sealed its border with Somalia and intensified screening to prevent
militias arriving.

But the government has not formally declared the borders closed.

-snip-

Full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6227083.stm